Jacksonville Jewish News June 2013

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ANNUAL REPORTJewish agencies share their year in review. page 4

JEWISH NEWSJacksonville

HISTORYDiscover how Jacksonville’s Jewry began in this secondof a series. page 6

SHALOM JAXCheck out the new Java spot. page 10

June 2013 • Sivan/Tamuz 5773 • Published by Jewish Federation of Jacksonville • www.jewishjacksonville.org • Volume 25, Number 12 • 28 pages

Spotlight: Encouraging Jewish peoplehoodResearch shows that a Jewish day

school education contributes to the future leadership of Jewish communities.

“The importance of a day school education in helping create people living their lives Jewishly including participating in and donating to Federa-tion activities cannot be overstated,” said Jon Israel, whose daughters attend Martin J. Gottlieb Day School.

In fi scal year 2012 Federation allocated $102,349 to Martin J. Gottlieb Day School.

“We are ever grateful to Federation for their ongoing support and for their annual generous donation

that goes toward tuition assistance each school year,” the Day School said in a statement.

In part, because of Fed-eration, 59 students received fi nancial assistance in the 2012-2013 school year. Out of those 59 students, 17 come from non-Center families.

In this current economy, every dollar is appreciated and the school is able to grow because of this generosity. Besides saying thank you on a regular basis, the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School does its best to be an active partner with Federation.

For the past three years, our parents and school committee members have

come out on Super Sunday and made calls for the campaign. In 2010 and 2011 MJGDS won the Super Sunday volunteer challenge, a monetary award given to the agency that brings the most volunteers to make calls for Super Sunday. In 2012, we came in second place.

For years, MJGDS has partnered with the Federation in the Family University program which is now known as Commu-nity University.

This community day of learning brings the entire Jewish community together to learn together – children and adults, rabbis and educators from every Jewish school in Jacksonville.

It is for all of these reasons that subsi-dizing a Jewish day school education is good for our Jacksonville Jewish com-munity and our world Jewish community. These kids are the next generation of us.

Jacksonville agencies celebrate successful year

Jon Israel

These photos are some of the highlights of the year for Jacksonville Jewish agencies. Above is the cover of the Haggadah for the Holocaust Survivors Model Seder, hosted by Jewish Family & Community Servic-es. See the agencies’ year in review, p. 4. Federation’s Family Mission 2012 JCA directors visit Israel. Here, Nancy, Thelma

and Betsy pose in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Baseball guys – “Mike’s friends and all sing, ‘Take me out to the ballgame.’ Gala revelers had so much fun they could hardly stay in their chairs.

page 2 Jacksonville Jewish News • June 2013 Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/JaxJewish

COMMUNITY NEWS

Jacksonville Office

Florida Financial Group4190 Belfort Rd., Suite 300, Jacksonville, FL 32216

[email protected]

Palm Coast Office

Innovative Financial Solutions PC, Inc.50 Leanni Way #C-4 Palm Coast, FL 32137

[email protected]

Mark H. Kraus, CLU®, ChFC®, CASL®

Financial Advisor, Registered Representative

Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®)

Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®)

Chartered Advisor for Senior Living (CASL®)

Focusing On:

Wealth Accumulation Strategies

Investments & Annuities

Retirement & Executive Benefit Planning

Estate Conservation & Planning Strategies

Life, Long-Term Care & Disability Insurance

Business Succession Planning

Charitable Giving & Legacy Planning

“I can help you achieve your lifetime and legacy goals.”

On April 7 the JCA celebrated charter members with an adult birthday breakfast and program. With planning by Sandy Oasis, mature adults coordinator, the event saw a turnout of more than 100 participants. During the event, members witnessed the unearthing of the JCA time capsule, originally buried in 1988, the JCA’s founding year.

Items from the capsule includ-ed JCA’s first marketing materials, program guide and newsletter, along with lists, photos and letters

from various Jewish community organizations in 1988. Samplings of these items were displayed in the Museum Room at the JCA’s 25th Birthday Party on April 20.

Along with items from the 1988 capsule, the Museum Room also featured items that were buried in the JCA’s new time capsule on May 5. These items included submissions from each JCA department, and copies of the JCA’s 25th birthday documentary, commemorative book and party invitation. The new capsule will be unearthed on the JCA’s 50th birthday in 2038.

By Jewish Community Alliance

JCA time capsules revealed: 1988 to 2013; on to 2038

David and Robin Wolf, co-chairs of the JCA’s 25th Birthday Time Capsule Committee, display the Time Capsule that was buried in 1988. See more photos, p. 22.

page 3Jacksonville Jewish News • June 2013 www.jewishjacksonville.org

AAA Trophy Mart•AAA Trophy Mart•Beachview & Party Rentals•Bob Ham Eyewear•Brandon Pest Control•Butensky & Cohen Financial •SecurityCamellia at Deerwood•Carriage Club Jacksonville•Clay Eye Physicians and Sur-•geonsComforcare Senior Services•

Erica Jolles - Magnolia Properties•Florida Central Region of Hadas-•sahFlorida State College at Jackson-•villeHardage-Giddens Funeral Home•Heekin Orthopedic Specialists•Jewish Community Alliance•Jewish Museum of Florida•Margo’s Catering•Mark Kraus, MetLife•Mediterrania•

Memorial Hospital•Museum of Comtemporary Art•Neat Organize and Design•One Ocean Resort•PaigeWajsman-Coldwell Banker •Vanguard RealtyRiver Garden•Southern Monument Co. Inc.•Stein Mart•StrattonandCompany•VandroffInsurance•Business Directory, p. 24•

22nd Annual Celebration of Jacksonville’s Jewish Agencies program

Thank you ... thank you ... thank youAt the Jacksonville Jewish News, our advertisers are precious to us. It is with their support that the Jacksonville Jewish com-

munity has a newspaper. Advertising revenue also offsets the cost of production, so Federation dollars can be dedicated to helping Jews locally and overseas. Please continue to live generously and support our adverisers:

What’s insideCommunity ................................ p. 2Education ................................. p. 14Federation .............................. p. 10Jewish Family & CommunityServices ................................... p. 20Jewish Community Alliance ... p. 22Jewish Foundation .................. p. 21Lifecycles ................................. p. 24Obituaries ................................ p. 24Perspectives .............................. p. 6River Garden ............................ p. 23Synagogues ............................ p. 16Women’s .................................. p. 11Year in review .......................... p. 4For your advertising needs, please contact advertising sales representative Barbara Nykerk at 904.733.4179 or Eta Perras

at 904.629.0466.

WelcomeJan Lipsky

InvocationRabbi Matthew Cohen

Award PresentationsRiver GardenRon ElinoffJewish Federation of JacksonvilleLarry AppelJewish Community Foundation of Northeast FloridaMark Green

Recognition, Election and Installation of Officers and Board MembersRichard Sisisky

Award PresentationsJewish Community AllianceJan LipskyJewish Family & C0mmunity ServicesFrancine Kempner

Adjourn

Officers and Board Members

Jewish Community AllianceExecutive CommitteeJan Lipsky, President Adam Frisch, Vice President Ali Korman Shelton, Vice President Suzette Allen, Secretary David Wolf, Treasurer Mary Edwards, Asst. Sec/Tres David A. Stein, Honorary Chairman Positions Expiring in 2014* Irene CywesMoti DemriSimon GarwoodKatie KightSusan Wolchok

Positions Expiring in 2015Andy CantorRon Elinoff Adam MarmelsteinGary Perlman* Jason Plaien

Positions Expiring in 2016* Rochelle Berman* Rebekah Selevan* Blair Sherman* Paige Wajsman* Chase Zimmerman

Nominating CommitteeNancy Perlman, ChairKen JacobsKatie Kight Daniel MillerDavid Miller

Myron Flagler, Staff*new term

Howard Korman President’s AwardDavid A. SteinSpecial Services AwardAllison Jacobs Carlos Bouvier 2013 Award of AppreciationMembers of the 25th Birthday Celebration Committee

Jewish Community Foundation of Northeast FloridaOfficers and Board MembersMark Green, Esq., PresidentAndy Cantor, CFA Matthew Edelman, CPA, VP, TreasurerJeff Edwards, VP, SecretaryLeonard Elikan Dr. Ron Elinoff Melvyn H. Fruit, VP*Mel Gottlieb Barbara Jaffe, CIMA Michael Korn, Esq., VP **Iris Kraemer Mark Lodinger Andrea Mail, VP **Dr. Sue Nussbaum **Dr. Gary Perlman Neil Presser, CPA, VP Dr. Hal Resnick Ellen Rosner, Esq. Michael Schneider, Esq. Steven Sherman, CSM, CRPC *Mark Shorstein, CPA *Richard Sisisky Sandy Zimmerman Barry Zisser, Esq. Of Blessed MemoryMichele Block-Wiener, Esq.Michael DonzigerDr. Roy J. Sloat

Honorary TrusteeElliott Horovitz * Past President** New member with terms beginning 7-1-2013

Outstanding FundraisingRichard SisiskyOutstanding Event ChairsAndrea Mail, Jeanine Rogozinski and Ellen Rosner

Jewish Federation of JacksonvilleExecutive Committee Hal Resnick, PresidentSandy Zimmerman, First Vice President and Campaign ChairWendy Efron, Vice President Iris Kraemer, Vice President Mike Nussbaum, Vice PresidentRisa Herman, Vice President and Women’s Division PresidentKen Jacobs, TreasurerJon Israel, SecretaryJennifer Plotkin,

Womens Campaign ChairErica Jolles, Chair Young Leadership DivisionLarry Appel, Immediate Past PresidentRichard Sisisky, Presidential AppointeeMark Green, President of the Jewish Community Foundation of Northeast Florida

Board membersFrancine Kempner (Jewish Fam-ily & Community Services)Mark Lodinger (River Garden)Jan Lipsky (Jewish Community Alliance)Michael AbelClaudia Baker*Nancy Davis*Susan DuBow*Andrew Jaffa*Michael KorenMichael KornAndrea MailLenny MaimanAdam MarmelsteinBen Marsh*Daniel Miller*Jennifer PlotkinEmily Rosenbaum*Ellen RosnerDiane RothsteinZachary Sherman Mike SollowaySusan WolchokEugene Wolchok*new board members

Past president/honorary life members:Scot AckermanGuy BenrubiJack ColemanRonald ElinoffLeslie HeldJoan LevinMitchell LevineGary PerlmanDavid RobbinsKenneth SekineLeonard SetzerStephen SilvermanRichard SisiskyArnold Vandroff Elliot Zisser

Rabbis Rabbi Mona DeckerRabbi Yaakov FischRabbi Joshua LiefRabbi Jonathan Lubliner Rabbi Michael Matuson

Joe P. Safer AwardBarry Zisser Ilene Sari Selevan Young Leadership Award Erica JollesBen Marsh River GardenOfficersMark Lodinger, PresidentMichael Price, VP, Chair of Admissions

Susan Cohen, VP, Co-Chair of AdmissionsMarsha Pollock, VP, Co-Chair of AdmissionsMorrie Osterer, VP, Chair of HouseJudy Paul, SecretaryCindy Demri, Treasurer

TrusteesKaren Backilman David Cohen Sharon Siegel Cohen* Susan Cohen Cindy Demri Susan Edelman Jeff Edwards Ron Elinoff Gloria Einstein Janis Fleet Sheldon Gendzier Larry Goldberg Rachelle Gottlieb Allen Gray Michael Greenburg Ed Grenadier Bruce Horovitz Michael Howard Charlie Joseph Randy KammerDebby KayeMichael LissnerMark LodingerLew MeiselBernie NachmanMorrie OstererHerman PaulMichael Paul*Judy PaulMarsha PollockJack PriceMichael PriceJerry RothsteinRubye SaferHarvey SchlesingerBarbara SchneiderBeth ShorsteinShari ShumanFred TrombergSandy ZimmermanNew members* Honorary TrusteesJack Coleman Bernie Datz

Volunteer Awards5,500 hours: May Grann4,500 hours: Sondra Resnikoff3,500 hours: Leslie Carmel3,000 hours: Alois Gendzier & Janet Rogers2,000 hours: Frank Baltes & Maxine Romo1,500 hours: Sheila Lowry & Hilda Warfield

Jewish Family & Community ServicesBoard of Directors Francine Kempner, President Ellen Rosner, First Vice President Jodie Leach, Vice President Vanessa Solomon, Vice President*

Tom Harris, Treasurer Robert Morgan, Secretary* Howard Caplan, Chairman

Members Caren AppelMary BergerMary EdwardsStephen GoldmanBarbara HunterMichael KatzStuart KleinSue LevineAnne LufranoJill MetlinRick PlotkinJudy PoppellHal ResnickMarjie RogozinskiRabbi Avi SchochetTheresa Stahlman*Andrew Steif*Glenn UllmannElaine S. WrightNew members*

Past PresidentsDr. Guy BenrubiDr. Sol BrotmanJack ColemanAlbert DatzDavid GarfinkelDebbie GottliebLawrence JabenJim KempnerDr. Dennis LaferM. H. LevineLeonardo MaimanLew MeiselMark ShorsteinIsabel TanenbaumGary WilkinsonCathy Winterfield

Honorary Board Larry AppelRichard BrowdyDr. Lawrence GoldbergKen GoldmanBeverly GoldsteinPaulette KeiferHenri LandwirthJoan LevinMichael LissnerDr. Milton MannDr. Edward MizrahiBarbara ParkerJack PriceLinda RubensShari WeitznerEunice ZisserRabbi Yaakov FischRabbi Yossie KahanovRabbi Nochum KurinskyRabbi Joshua LiefRabbi Jonathan LublinerRabbi Michael MatusonRabbi Shmuli Novack

Partner of the YearWinn-Dixie Store #190Corporation of the YearWinn-Dixie Foundation

This past year has been one of the busiest in memory as we prepare for the coming tsunami of seniors who will, for the foresee-able future, be the fastest growing demographic in the country.

River Garden Senior Services is well-positioned to meet the needs of seniors here on our 37-acre Mandarin campus as well as those choosing to remain in their homes in the community. Our outpatient programs in home healthcare and adult daycare now represent the fastest growing segment of work we do, and that growth will continue well into the next couple of decades.

We are especially proud of our new affiliation with Baptist Health. On May 1, 2012, River Garden and Baptist entered into a clinical partnership that now brings Baptist physicians to our campus to offer primary medi-cal care. The new affiliation with Baptist will grow as programs and services continue to expand.

All of us owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our boards and their leadership. We are especially grateful to Ron Elinoff, president of River Garden Senior Services; Mark Lodinger, president of River Garden Hebrew Home; Don Romo, president of The Coves; Veronica Maybury, president of River Garden Foundation; Sheldon Gendzier, president of The Albert Z. Fleet Geriatric Training Center and Karen Backilman, president of River Garden Auxiliary, for their dedication and leadership. Our boards have remained steadfast in support of our mission, vision and values and have done so during a very difficult and trying economy. Our staff continues to provide an unwavering commitment to professional excellence and care. With over 85 staff members with more than 10 years of service, we are rightfully proud to say that River Garden is a good place for residents to live and for staff to work. For information about River Garden or any of its programs please contact our Admissions De-partment at 904-886-8420 or email [email protected].

Gold Seal Award for Excellence

The Governor’s Gold Seal Award for Excellence in Long-Term Care was presented Aug. 28 to River Garden staff by Jim

Crochet, Florida long-term care ombudsman. Created in 2002, the Gold Seal Program recognizes nursing homes that demonstrate excellence in long-term care over a sustained period; promote staff stability; and facilitate the physi-cal, social, and emotional well-being of its residents.

With 18 Florida nursing homes holding a Gold Seal, River Garden is the only free-standing nursing home in the state to receive this prestigious award six consecutive times.

Capital campaign comes to a close

On March 17 River Gar-den closed the two-year capital campaign, Building Our Future…Together. The campaign was spearheaded by honorary chairs David and Linda Stein, who made a lead gift of $1 million to the campaign. Co–chairs Susan DuBow and Sandy Zimmerman led a team of lay leaders and professionals and raised $7.7 mil-lion, exceeding the $7 million goal by $700,000. The success of the campaign affords River Garden the opportunity to refurbish the skilled nursing facility and to grow the Rehab and Therapy Depart-ment, Home Health Care, Adult Day Care Program and many other outpatient services. Thank you to the River Garden leadership, vol-unteers, community members and families of residents who ensured the success of the campaign. A donor wall recognizing the many individuals who have made pos-sible this extraordinary campaign will be located in our lobby. Please come and visit the “new” River Garden.

Building dedicationRiver Garden Senior Ser-

vices hosted more than 350 guests from the Jacksonville community on Oct. 15 to help celebrate the dedication of our new addition and updated space. Guests included leaders from the Jewish community as well as the Jacksonville community at large, including City Councilman Matt Schellenberg; and leader-ship from Baptist Health, Florida Blue, SunTrust Bank, Community Hospice, Haven Hospice and Aetna Healthcare. Donors, board members, residents and family members enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres as they toured the new and refurbished facilities.

Linda and David Stein were recognized for their $1 million lead gift to the capital campaign in a red ribbon cutting ceremony of the new 10,000-square-foot David A. Stein & Family Center. The space was dedicated in memory of his grandmother Rose, a found-ing mother of River Garden. The new addition is home to the Frisch Family Adult Day Care and Activities Pavilion and the Bernard & Alice Seleven Therapy Pavilion. The new space enables the Therapy Center and the Adult Day Care program to triple the number of clients served and increase our outreach into home and community-based programs and services. The renovation of the existing space includes the Trager/Peltz Admissions & Home Health Pavilion, the Parker and Wilf Dining Services Pavilion and The DuBow Pharmacy, as well as the Sloat Memory Care Pavilion. The refurbishment of the entire building is nearing completion.

The evening was also an op-portunity to thank all donors who contributed to River Garden’s capital campaign. Campaign chairs Susan DuBow and Sandy Zimmerman, as well as honor-ary chairs David and Linda Stein, were applauded. “River Garden credits the entire community for the success of the campaign. We are very grateful to each and every donor, but we could not have done it without the leadership of our chairs, pioneer and visionary do-nors that got the campaign off to a running start,” remarked Martin Goetz, CEO of River Garden.

River Garden Gala

Imagine...A Walk Through Our Emerald City, the 20th annual River Garden Gala, was held Nov. 17 at the World Golf Village Re-naissance Resort. Over 500 guests attended the event, which raised more than $162,000 in support of River Garden and its residents. The event was chaired by Jeanine Rogozinski, and SunTrust Bank served as Premier Gala Sponsor.

Golf Classic

The 16th annual River Garden Golf Classic, once again chaired by Mark Lodinger and Michael Price, took place on April 18, 2012, at Deerwood Country Club. This great day of golf, in support of The Albert Z. Fleet Geriatric Training Center at River Garden, was sponsored by Hardage-Gid-

dens Funeral Homes & Cemeter-ies. The tournament raised more than $89,000 for the center, which provides continuing staff educa-tion and trains certified nursing assistants.

For information about any of these River Garden Develop-ment Office programs and events, please contact Kathy Osterer at 904-886-8430 or email [email protected].

River Garden rehabilitation

November marked one year since the opening of the newly constructed Bernard & Alice Sel-evan Therapy Pavilion. The lush canopy views from the picturesque windows remain a popular con-versation piece. As you step into the spacious, fully equipped Setzer Family Gymnasium you soon find out why it has been affectionately dubbed “The Happy Place.” As residents and outpatients alike work hard to reach their therapeu-tic goals, sincere smiles and hearty laughter from both clients and therapists are heard throughout the department.

As word of mouth spread of our new and improved space, we experienced an increase in our outpatient referrals. We also saw a significant increase in clients, who first came to the facility for short-stay rehabilitation, return to continue therapy on an out-patient basis. River Garden Rehab and Therapy Center continues to provide individualized treatments, believing that building one-on-one relationships yields greater success in our clients’ recovery. We look forward to growing these relation-ships as we expand our services to include home health physical, occupational and speech therapy.

To learn more about the Rehab and Therapy Center, or to schedule a visit, please call Sheri Samuels, administrative assistant, at 904-886-8454 or email [email protected].

Adult Day CareFollowing the move into our

new quarters in the Frisch Family Adult Day and Activities Pavilion, many changes have taken place in River Garden’s Adult Day Care Program. The new 5,000-square-foot space features state-of-the-art technology and boasts a fully operational demonstration kitchen and ceramics studio.

The new space features a safe wandering path, allowing clients to have the benefit of an outdoor space in which to walk and seating areas to stretch, breathe fresh air, and enjoy the beautiful outdoor Florida weather. The indoor rooms allow us to group our clients

according to their functional needs and abilities, and the many windows provide stunning views of the River Garden campus.

A low client-to-staff ratio, with a focus on activities appropriate for clients with diverse needs, is offered each day. Each member of the Adult Day Care staff is trained to encourage, support and assist clients to participate fully in the daily activities in order to main-tain their maximum potential. For information on the Adult Day Care please contact Robin Conway at 904-288-7858 or email [email protected].

Home HealthcareOur licensed home health

agency has been providing private duty nursing case management to Coves members as well as to indi-viduals residing in the community. For Coves members who require additional assistance, we offer nursing assistants to help with activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, etc.) and to transport clients to doctor appointments, shopping and social outings. The beauty of the private duty program is that the services are customized for each client. Clients can have as much or as little service as needed in order to maintain their indepen-dence and stay in their homes for as long as possible.

During spring/summer 2013, the home health agency will receive Medicare accreditation and will begin offering skilled nursing, therapy and aide services to clients in their homes follow-ing a stay in River Garden’s short stay rehabilitation unit, as well as to those members of the River Garden family who have had a brief hospital stay or acute illness and whose doctors wish them to have additional skilled services delivered to them in their homes. For additional information on our Home Healthcare program please contact Jan Glassman at 904-288-7851 or [email protected].

The Coves Independent Living

This year was another year of excitement at The Coves. 2012 saw the inauguration of the newly completed clubroom with live en-tertainment and food. The Coves dining room and lobby renova-tions are nearing completion and the excitement this brings has been highly anticipated by all.

This year has seen some changes in the population of The Coves. We wish a warm welcome to our new Coves members who have joined us over the past year. We are thrilled to welcome them to our family.


YEAR IN REVIEW: RIVER GARDEN SENIOR SERVICES

By River Garden Senior Services

Board servicerecognition

Don Romo, outgoing president of The Coves board, was recog-nized and honored on March 17 at the annual meeting of River Garden Senior Services for his remarkable commitment to The Coves.

Volunteer service recognition

The following hard-working volunteers were recognized and honored for their tireless and self-less commitment to River Garden. They received a special award plaque and pin at the annual Volunteer Appreciation Awards Luncheon on April 30:5,500 hours: May Grann4,500 hours: Sondra Resnikoff3,500 hours: Leslie Carmel

3,000 hours: Alois Gendzier & Janet Rogers2,000 hours: Frank Baltes &

Maxine Romo1,500 hours: Sheila Lowry & Hilda Warfield

By River Garden Senior Services

Outgoing board President Don Romo receives a beautiful plaque from Lois Schlesinger, incoming President, acknowledging well-de-served recognition of his years of service on The Coves Board.

Mark Lodinger, home board President, accepts River Garden’s 6th consecutive Governor’s Gold Seal Award from Jim Crochet.

Romo, volunteers receive awards

What a busy year it has been at River Garden Senior Services


YEAR IN REVIEW: JEWISH FEDERATION OF JACKSONVILLE

At our annual meeting on May 30, Larry Appel will complete his two-year term as president of our Jewish Federation. It has been an honor to partner with Larry! He has given so much of himself to this important volunteer position. I sincerely appreciate his time, counsel and friendship.

This has been a wonderful year for our Jewish community and Federation’s major local recipients. The Jewish Community Alliance is celebrating its 25th anniversary; River Garden completed its near $8 million capital campaign and expansion; the Jewish Community Foundation of Northeast Florida continued to engage more and more people with Create a Jewish Legacy; while Jewish Family & Community Services began to make important inroads serving Jewish people with special needs. The Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and Torah Academy of Jackson-ville are providing the highest quality of Jewish and secular education to our young people.

One of the things I enjoy most about my role as executive director is working with the most talented professional leadership in orga-nized Jewish communal service! The continued success of our agencies and day schools results in large part from the excellent work of Colleen Rodriguez, Marty Goetz, Paulette Keifer, Myron Flagler, Jon Mitzmacher and Rabbi Avi Schochet.

Each year Federation honors a volunteer for outstanding service in a volunteer capacity to one or more of the agencies, synagogues or Federation. The recipient of the Joe P. Safer Community Services Award is Barry Zisser. Barry, much in the spirit of the late “Joe P,” has been valued by many of our organizations including Beth Sha-lom, the Jewish Foundation and Federation.

This is also proving to be a very good year for Federation! Our year began with a fabulous family mission, chaired by Hal Resnick, and the International Lion of Judah Conference in Manhattan. Phyllis Vandroff was honored at the event.

Throughout the year, our Women’s Division continued to shine with successful events to include the Girlfriend Connection and Cham-pagne Brunch. Wendy Efron and Risa Herman have been engaging leaders for this most important part of Federation. Erin Cohen has quickly become a most effective addition to our staff as Women’s Division director.

The Young Leadership Division held one of the most innovative programs in many years, Shabbat across Jacksonville. Erica Jolles and Nancy Davis will continue to chair YLD next year, and we are most appreciative of that. Erica and Ben Marsh are the recipients of this year’s Ilene Sari Selevan Young Leadership Award. Jeanine Hoff joined our staff in February as YLD director. We can’t wait for Jeanine to be full time this sum-mer!

Nobody does it better than Isabel Balotin heading up Shalom Jacksonville. What a great service this program offers to the com-munity!

Israel Partnership enjoyed an active year under the dedicated leadership of chair, Iris Kraemer, and staff support provided by Jill Abel. Among the highlights were the teacher delegation to Hadera, Israeli steering committee chair

Aviad Sela’s visit to Jacksonville, and the display of the fantastic Windows of Identity art project at the Women’s Division champagne brunch and Community University.

Throughout the year, the Jack-sonville Jewish News is one of the best public relations vehicles for the community and a source for so much of what is happening each

month. Jon Israel chairs our Com-munications Committee, working with Communications Director Di-ane Rodgers on the paper, website and Facebook.

The allocations committee is meeting this spring, chaired by Sandy Zimmerman. And for the first time in many years our Annual Campaign is projected to be up sig-nificantly. The board has approved a 2013 campaign achievement of $2,470,000. It is likely that all of the local and overseas recipients of our funds will receive healthy increases. Hal Resnick has chaired the Annual Campaign these past two years.

Hal will assume the presidency of Federation at the annual meet-ing. He is one of the best organi-zational and leadership trainers in America! Our entire staff is excited for the opportunity to work with him.

I want to say a special thank you to Kris Light, Donna O’Steen and Susan Bryan. The administra-tive staff provides the best support to Jan, Erin, Jeanine, Diane, Isabel and me, and we greatly appreciate them.

I hope everyone will join us at the annual meeting, Thursday, May 30, 6:15 p.m. for hamburgers and hot dogs, and then for the instal-lation of our leadership and our annual awards at 7 p.m.

Thank you all very much for your continued support.

-Alan Margolies, executive director

By Jewish Federation of Jacksonville

Olander retiresFor the past 18 years, I have

enjoyed the special privilege of working with Jan Olander, our CFO. Jan will retire on June 30. Jan has been an integral part of our growth and success. She has handled responsibilities that have included directing our finances, serving as our office manager, and taking charge of IT and HR. With everything Jan has touched, she has exhibited class and integrity. Jan has worked with a number of finance committee chairs includ-ing Sandy Zimmerman, Larry Appel, Sue Eaglstein, Michael Korn, Francine Kempner, Matthew Edelman and Mark Shorstein. It is my observation that all of these dedicated volunteers thoroughly enjoyed partnering with Jan. For each of these 18 years, our audit has been “clean” and we have come in under budget. On behalf of the nine presidents and all board members who have served while Jan was a part of our professional team, I wish Jan all the best in her future endeavors. It has been a pleasure. - Alan Margolies

Barry Zisser received the Joe P. Safer Award for his lifetime of volunteer service to Beth Shalom, the Jewish Community Foun-dation of Northeast Florida and Federation. He has demonstrated great passion, giving of his time and talent for the community. He was a personal friend of Joe P. Safer, of blessed memory, for whom the award is named.

Zisser said: “Joe P. Safer was my men-tor. I had the great pleasure of meeting him at the very first service I attended when I moved to Jacksonville 50 years ago. Joe P. was the reason for my personal involvement in Jewish causes.

“He, Ruth, Eunice and I were two of the original 13 families that formed Beth Shalom congregation. His weekly (some-times more frequent) telephone calls to me at my office or at home with his traditional greeting of “Happy holiday morning” was something everyone who received it (and there were hundreds who did) looked for-ward to hearing.

“Joe P. was the greatest ambassador that

any Jewish agency or synagogue could hope for. He always had a Jewish cause that he was working for and a raffle ticket to sell. His enthusiasm was contagious, and you felt a compelling need and desire to follow him and sup-port whatever cause he was support-ing. Joe P. was truly the leader every Jewish community strives to emulate. Jacksonville was very fortunate to have him as a leader, and I feel blessed to have had him as my friend. I am so deeply honored to accept this award named in honor of my friend, Joe P.”

Erica Jolles is honored as a recipi-ent of the Ilene Sari Selevan Young Leadership Award for her volunteer service to Federation. She has served two years as co-chair of the Young Leadership Division, is a member of the Federation Board and Executive Committee and serves on the Allocations Committee.

“It is an honor to be recognized with the Ilene Sari Young Leadership award. The best part of being a part of the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville is knowing it is a lifelong opportunity and the options to

remain involved are endless,” Jolles said.The award bears the name of Ilene Sari

Selevan, of blessed memory, who was a wonderful role model to many members of the community serving in leadership capaci-ties. She brought a unique style, spirit and zest of life to all of her endeavors.

Ben Marsh is honored as a recipient of the Ilene Sari Selevan Young Leadership Award. Ben participated on the most recent Jewish Federations of North America Young

Leadership Mission to Israel. He has been the coordinating force behind the Mix ‘N’ Mingle program, bringing young profession-als together each month. Ben will join the Federation board in June.

“I’m privileged to be a part of Federa-tion for many reasons with all the fantastic work that done locally and internationally,” Marsh said. “ I have seen this first-hand here in Jacksonville. I’ve seen our work in Israel from the 2011 YLD mission trip.”

By Jewish Federation of Jacksonville

Barry Zisser Erica Jolles Ben Marsh

Zisser, Jolles, Marsh receive Federation awards

Celebrating another year of helping local, international partners

Sandy Zimmerman and his family in Jerusalem during the Family Mission 2012

Several Jacksonville

women attend the 2012

Lion of Judah Conference in New Orleans.

with Alan Margolies.

Meryl Rittenburg and Iris Kraemer pose in front of the Window of Identity art project at the Women’s Division Champagne Brunch.

Jan Olander at Super Sunday


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Jacksonville

JEWISH NEWSDiane Rodgers, Communications Director

904.448.5000, ext. 212

Advertising RepresentativesBarbara Nykerk • 904.733.4179

Eta Perras • 904.629.0466

Communications CommitteeJon Israel, ChairShirley Bielski

Helen HillMichele KatzJoan Levin

Andrea MailRachel Morgenthal

Marsha PollockGail Sterman

Federation PresidentLarry Appel

Federation Executive DirectorAlan Margolies

8505 San Jose Blvd. • Jacksonville, FL 32217The Jacksonville Jewish News is published monthly. All sub-

mitted content becomes the property of the Jacksonville Jewish News. Announcements and opinions contained in these pages are published as a service to the community and do not neces-sarily represent the views of the Jacksonville Jewish News or its publisher, the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Jewish News is not responsible for the Kashruth of any product advertised.

Copy deadlines: All news, photographs, etc., must be received by the 6th of each month, and sent to [email protected].

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PERSPECTIVES

The beginning of June brings more than sunshine and warm weather. June

brings an end to the school year and the beginning of sum-mer vacation. While some may calen-dar their summers around laying out on the beach or family vacations, many of our children’s sum-mers (and lives for that matter!) revolve around summer camp.

The Foundation for Jewish Camp, the nonprofi t organiza-tion that “unifi es and galvanizes the fi eld of Jewish overnight camp,” explains that “Jewish camp weaves Jewish values, culture and traditions into the fabric of camp, helping campers to connect to their own identity and the larger Jewish commu-nity.” Jewish overnight camp is about more than camp fi res, hikes, swimming and sports, like other sleep-away camps. Jewish camp creates memories that no preschool, religious school, day school or high school can! Jew-ish camp even offers experiences that youth group cannot offer.

Jewish camp is a utopian, temporary, but perfect com-munity, in which every single bunkmate quickly becomes like a brother or sister, in which time simultaneously stands still and speeds up so that camp memories can last forever and camp friend-ships of a few days or weeks feel like lifelong relationships.

Furthermore, Jewish camp of-

fers experiential educational op-portunities so that children aren’t only learning about Shabbat, prayer, dietary laws, or Jewish ethics and morals; they are living it on a daily basis. Camp offers

a creative and fun learning experience with your peers – an environment that allows you to be both the student and teacher. Finally,

Jewish camp is truly a kehillah kedosha, a holy community and a safe space, an environment that celebrates that each camper is made in God’s image.

The Foundation for Jewish Camp’s study, Camp Works, sug-gests that Jewish summer camp attendance increases the likeli-hood of adult participation and identifi cation. In the study, those who attended Jewish camp were more likely to donate to a Jewish charity, light Shabbat candles, attend synagogue regularly, and be emotionally attached to Israel. Participation in Jewish camping leads to a greater connection to tradition, ritual and community.

The challenge of Jewish camp experiences though is that they are limited to the summer. Camp is a temporary holy community, much like the Mishkan, the temporary sanctuary built and rebuilt as the Israelites traveled throughout the desert. The irony of the unique community that camp offers is that it is limited to the summer. Most suggest that camp wouldn’t work as a year-round experience, that what makes camp so special is that it is limited to only the summer.

Campers yearn for a return to camp during the winter. If camp lasted year-round, then campers wouldn’t count down the seconds until camp returns, or stay in touch with bunkmates via phone, email and Facebook.

The Israelites depended on their temporary sacred space as they traveled through the wilder-ness until they settled in the promised land and found com-munity in the permanent struc-ture of the Beit HaMikdash, the Temple in Jerusalem. Our goal and our task as a Jewish commu-nity is to encourage our children to attend Jewish camp and ex-pose them to those life-changing positive Jewish experiences over the summer.

Furthermore, though, we must ensure that those positive experiences aren’t limited to the summer. The Jacksonville Jewish community serves as that permanent community that our children return to after spending the summer in their temporary utopias.

We need to make sure our children bring those experiences of camp home. Havdallah can-not be limited to lakeside in the summer. Singing, dancing and clapping during services can take place year-round. Let us encour-age our children (and adults!) to lose their voices because they are singing so loud, with such energy and ruach. Let us send our kids to camp, but make sure they bring a bit of camp home with them. This way, the life-changing summer memories can become life-changing daily memories.

This is part 2 of a series of ar-ticles refl ecting on Jacksonville’s Jewish history.

In 1850, fi ve years after Florida was granted statehood, Jack-sonville advanced from a vil-

lage to a small town of 2,000. It was primarily a port city for the large lumber industry beginning to develop in the area, and was a site for fording cattle across the St. Johns River to Union troops stationed in the St. Augustine garrison. Stores and government offi ces huddled on the north bank of the river, and dwellings and churches sat further back.

Local residents remember a tailor, Mr. Rosenthal, as the fi rst “Hebrew” merchant in town, but the fi rst Jew whose presence can be documented was Philip Dzia-

lynski who arrived from Prussia in 1850. The climate, the poten-tial for economic growth and the atmosphere of religious freedom were attractive enough to him that he sent for his parents and eight brothers and sisters. Ever since, the Jews of Jacksonville have made a lasting contribution to our city’s well-being.

It was after the War between the States that many large Jewish families migrated to Jacksonville, primarily as merchants. Some peddled their way;

others came direct to the city that soon became the major vaca-tion resort in the United States. Jacksonville was also the port city to the tourist attractions up the St. Johns River, and merchants catered to the travelers. Cohen Brothers and Furchgott’s were both established in 1867. Early Jewish residents were also food brokers, tobacconists, planters,

jewelers, hotel keepers, and trad-ers in horses and carriages.

Before the turn of the century and shortly thereafter, Jews were frequently appointed or elected to local governmental offi ces. One, Morris A. Dzialynski, served as mayor from 1881 to 1883. It was a remarkable victory, especially for a Jew, for it broke the back of a strong Republican machine that was dominating state and local politics at that time. Since that time, Jews have been judges in our local courts, and Jewish physicians have served as chiefs of staff at locals hospitals and as leaders in the Duval County medi-cal and dental societies.

Jews point with pride at what they do best: care for the needy, regardless of race, color or creed. Their names appear as benefac-tors, leaders and participants in the fi elds of art, music, theater and educational institutions and also in the fi eld of human relations.

Next month, we will write about early Jacksonville families and neighborhoods.

By HAZEL MACK and MARSHA POLLOCK

RABBINICALLYSPEAKING

Send kids to camp and bring camp homeBy RABBI JESSE OLITZKYJacksonville Jewish Center

Part 2: Jacksonville Jewry begins

JACKSONVILLE’S JEWISH HISTORY

In February 2012, the Southeast Consortium and Hadera-Eiron Partnership Region sponsored the art exhibition of small works, “Windows of Identity,” featuring works by more than 50 artists from our Partnership communities in the US and Israel. The purpose of the project was two-fold: To foster a network of artists within our Israeli/Ameri-can Partnership, and to encourage creative artistic expression from a Jewish perspective. This exhibit generated such enthusiasm and excitement among artists and viewers alike that we are initiating the second exhibition in this series of Jewish artistic identity.

“The Sound of Many Waters: Images of Water in Jewish Life, Culture and Spirituality” has many possibilities evoking spiritual, historical, political and metaphorical interpretations. Artists are en-couraged to explore all avenues of the theme in creating work for the show. Work in all media will be accepted for consideration as long as the work can be hung on a wall, addresses the theme, and conforms to the size and weight restrictions. Artists interested in participating will submit a proposal, including images of their current work, a resume/bio, a description of the piece they propose to cre-ate, and a statement telling of their approach to the theme.

The Sound of Many Waters will open in Jerusa-lem in November 2013, and afterward will travel to many of the participating cities in the consortium. We are very much looking forward to your proposal - to your creative interpretation and amazing artwork!

For more information please contact: Jill Abel, Jewish Federation of Jacksonville: 904-448-5000 or [email protected]

The Sound of Many Waters: Images of

Water in Jewish Life, Culture and Spirituality

CALL TO ARTISTS


Focus: Create a Jewish Legacy continues to be at the forefront of Foundation’s focus and the heart and soul of the organization.

As we begin year five of CJL, we look back to measure suc-cess. Of the Jewish Federations of North America CJL pilot com-munities nationwide, Jacksonville remains the only one to have received the maximum available competitive support grant for the three consecutive years we have been a pilot.

Collaborative initiative: Foundation’s partner agencies and synagogues are working collabor-atively, in the spirit of community, stating with one voice: Create a Jewish legacy. Please remember the Jewish community in your will and estate plan.

Jan. 31 CJL Celebration Event: Foundation President Mark Green and his wife Nancy along with Create a Jewish Legacy Chair Richard Sisisky and his wife Kim-berly were honorary hosts of our community CJL celebration. This event included a special tribute to the first Foundation president, Michael Donziger (of blessed memory). Andrea Mail, Ellen Rosner and Jeanine Rogozinski co-chaired the successful event, which had more than 350 in at-tendance. Many volunteers helped to ensure guests were entertained, inspired and thanked for their commitments to creating Jew-ish legacies that will secure the financial futures of our agencies and synagogues.

See event video at http://jew-ishfoundationnefl.org/vblog/cre-ate-a-jewish-legacy-celebration-wish-upon-a-shooting-star/

First Donziger Legacy Leader Award presented: During the CJL celebration event, Foundation President Mark Green presented the Donziger Legacy Leader Award to Richard Sisisky. This award will be presented on rare occasions to individuals who exemplify Michael Donziger’s special talents: exceptional fund-raising skills and dedication to creating Jewish legacies through endowment funds that will secure the financial future of our Jewish community. As a founding and

continuing Foundation board member since 1995, Richard was responsible for laying the ground-work that led to the creation of the Jewish Community Foundation. During his tenure as Foundation president, Richard recognized the importance of the Create a Jewish Legacy pilot program and worked to implement CJL in our com-munity. Richard serves as chair of our Create a Jewish Legacy initia-tive and leads the CJL Steering Committee.

Kraemer Legacy Video Project launched: Iris and Mark Kraemer envisioned the idea to videotape personal histories of individu-als who are leaving legacies to Jewish causes. These stories otherwise might be lost to our community and future genera-tions. Sponsors of this important initiative, Iris and Mark facilitated the recording of many stories, in-cluding the 11 featured during our Jan. 13 CJL event. Local students, Max Ackerman and Scott Gold-stein, who possess special talents for video production, have been assisting with the project.

CJL babies born: Two new additions to our CJL community, Jonathan Hoff and Feivel Shapiro, were born during the planning of our CJL event to individuals who assisted with event music and video production and presenta-tions.

Declaring intent to create Jewish legacies: More than 500 individuals intend to or have already included Jewish causes in their estate plans. Many took this step and/or gave cash gifts to Jew-ish endowments before CJL was established. Since CJL began, 294 individuals have declared their intent to do so.

CJL success in $s: An estimat-ed $27.5 million in future legacy gifts has been promised to the Jewish community – and we have only begun! Statistically speak-ing, we know only of three out of eight planned bequest gifts during the lifetimes of donors. Where the gift amount is unknown, Foun-dation uses the national bequest average of $50,000.

Facts/statistics: When polled, those who did not plan to include Jewish causes in their wills were asked, “Why not?” The No. 1

reason given was, “No one ever asked me.” Through CJL we are asking.

Simple process: Contact the Foundation to arrange a no cost, no obligation, confidential meet-ing to discuss charitable gift plan-ning options and funding ideas that are right for you. Together we customize your agreement and document your intent to support causes you care about.

Why leave my legacy to en-dowments? When left to endow-ment funds, your legacy gift will continue giving in your name in perpetuity. Endowment funds are like retirement accounts – only a portion is used each year and they support causes you care about forever.

Legacy success in $s: When the Foundation was incorporated in 1995, a little over $1 million was held in local Jewish orga-nization endowment funds. To date over $64 million is owned, managed or has been designated for future planned gifts through Foundation for Jewish causes.

How the Jewish community benefits: If today we could con-vert the $64 million in received and promised gifts into cash, invest those monies and annually distribute 5 percent of the fund’s balance, our synagogues, agencies and community would collective-

ly receive $3.2 million every year to help meet needs.

Foundation grants: Between March 31, 2012, and March 31, 2013, Foundation distributed $814,103 to qualified charities. Of this amount, $539,380 was dis-tributed to Jewish causes.

Youth philanthropy impact: 240 young philanthropists have B’nai Tzedek funds from which they make distributions to Jew-ish causes. This year, they will distribute collectively $8,000 to Northeast Florida Jewish causes. Residual assets from expired B’nai Tzedek Funds will be added to local agency and synagogue endowments.

Come dream with us. What would we do with more $s: Services for older adults, Jewish education scholarships, hope and comfort during difficult times, relocating Jews living in harm’s way, and social and spiritual programs are some of the services Foundation Partners provide to our community. Imagine what more we could do by adding just one more legacy donor - you! Add your ideas to the wish list at [email protected]

Every gift counts: Consider the cumulative effect. Every dollar given to endowment funds adds to principal. Foundation helps

increase Jewish endowments through CJL.

Safeguarding invested funds: Our Investment Oversight Com-mittee is comprised of investment savvy local Jewish individuals with a passion for the cause. With the guidance of a professional money manager and approval of the board, the Committee safe-guards donated funds.

Invested assets perform well: Funds invested with Foundation performed well against indices and benchmarks for one-year, three-year, and five-year periods. We feel confident we are doing an excellent job for those who instill their trust in Foundation.

Special thanks to those help-ing to ensure success with CJL: Foundation donors, CJL declara-tion signers, volunteers, our com-munity CJL Steering Committee, Foundation and partner profes-sionals and boards and our 18 community Angels. We could not have come this far without you.

Achieve philanthropic immor-tality: Ensure that causes you feel passionate about today - causes you nurtured and cared for during your lifetime - will receive your support in the future.

Create a Jewish Legacy for Foundation Partners: Beth El – The Beaches Synagogue, Con-gregation Ahavath Chesed (The Temple), Etz Chaim Synagogue, Jacksonville Jewish Center, Jew-ish Federation of Jacksonville, Jewish Community Alliance, Jewish Family & Community Services and River Garden Senior Services.

“The future is in our hands. Together we will secure a vibrant future for our Jewish community and the generations that will fol-low us.” Call 394-0720 to join us!

By Jewish Community Foundation

Outstanding Fundraising

Richard Sisisky: For his efforts to raise funds to support the Cre-ate a Jewish Legacy program.

Barry Zisser: For his efforts to raise funds to present the January 31, 2013 Create a Jewish Legacy community celebration event.Outstanding Event Chairs

Andrea Mail, Jeanine Rogoz-inski and Ellen Rosner: For their efforts to organize our January 31, 2013 Create a Jewish Legacy community celebration event.

Outstanding Video Production

Iris and Mark Kraemer, Jeanine Hoff, Deborah Shapiro, Max Ackerman, Scott Goldstein, and Hazzan Jesse Holzer: For their efforts to create and produce the videos for our January 31, 2013 community Create a Jewish Legacy celebration event.

Outstanding Musical Production

Isabel Balotin, Shirley Bielski, Mary Edwards, Ellen Hare, Jea-nine Hoff, Hazzan Jesse Holzer, Rabbi Matthew Cohen, and Koltrain members (Leslie Blu-menfeld, Bruce Horovitz, Jaime Kaufman, Dennis Mizrahi, Todd Morse, Cindy and Daniel Wohl and Scott Zimmerman): For their efforts as lyricists, singers and musicians, to entertain and inspire attendees during our January 31, 2013 community CJL celebration event.

Outstanding Volunteerism

Judy and Len Elikan, Sue and Ron Elinoff, Michele Katz, Penny Marks, Fred Marks, Lita Poehl-man, Judy Poppell, Joanne Rosen-berg, Larry Tallis and Barry and Eunice Zisser: For their efforts to assist with preparing for and presenting our January 31, 2013 community CJL event.


Foundation awards fundraising, event chairs and more

Barry Zisser Jeanine HoffHazzan Jesse Holzer

Deborah Shapiro

Iris Kraemer

Ellen Rosner, Andrea Mail and Jeanine Rogozinski

Mark Green presents Michael Donziger legacy Leader Award to Richard Sisisky

Creating a Jewish Legacy program remains at forefrontYEAR IN REVIEW: JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHEAST FLORIDA

Donzinger at the Western Wall


YEAR IN REVIEW: JEWISH FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES

There have been so many won-derful things happening at JFCS this year, all due to the involve-ment of the community, Board of Directors and staff. We officially changed our tag line to “helping people help themselves,” which you will see is the obvious theme throughout this article.

PassoverOur most meaningful events

have centered around Passover and the two very special Seders that were held. The first was for an amazing group of Holocaust survivors living in Northeast Florida to whom JFCS provides support. This year we have held social events each quarter that give survivors the opportunity to come together, share stories and, perhaps most importantly, to include their children and grandchildren so that future generations can be educat-ed. We worked with Sandalwood High School students and a group survivors to document their ex-periences during the Holocaust to develop a beautiful and powerful Hagaddah. The survivors’ stories were interwoven with the Passover story, drawing a parallel between the two journeys from captivity to freedom. This Hagaddah was used for our first Survivor Seder held at River Garden. Over 75 people participated. One of the survivors said it best: “The fact that we are here today, celebrating Passover together, is proof that Hitler and the Nazis did not win.” We then had our first-ever staff and board Seder for which we used the same Hagaddah. It touched the hearts of everyone who participated and definitely will become a treasured annual event. We at JFCS feel strongly that we have a respon-sibility to ensure that Holocaust survivors are treated with dignity and respect and that we help share their stories so that history does not repeat itself.

Community engagement

JFCS is often the face of the Jewish community to those who come to us in their hour of need. We gain access into assisted-living

facilities, hospitals and schools. We are the social service arm of the Jewish community and for many people – if they are not involved with a synagogue, other agency or a day school – we are the only Jewish experience they have. We take this very seriously and are continuously looking for ways to connect with those that are otherwise not involved in our Jewish community.

Another way we have reached out to our community is through our Conversation Cafe, during which we have experts and our staff speak about health issues. This year we had Dr. Scot Acker-man and Donna Deegan, along with one of our therapists, Dawn Sweeten, discuss breast health; and Mel Gottlieb and his cardiolo-gist, Mark Hayes, discussed heart health. These luncheons have been very successful in bringing the community together and educating them on important health issues.

Similarly, our “Eight Notes of Hanukah,” Jewish Culture Club, other Jewish outreach in facilities, and summer music programs reach people who reside in primarily nonsectarian residential facili-ties. JFCS doesn’t want anyone in the Jewish community living in isolation unable to connect with others of the same faith. Through our Jewish Healing Network, we are able to do this in a significantly personal way. Our volunteers meet with individuals and families in their homes or hospital rooms. We are there to remind them that they are important; they do have people thinking of them; and JFCS is going to help them when and if needed. Very often through these visits we identify additional needs, such as transportation to doctor’s appointments or the need for food delivery. If we are not out in the community discovering these needs, there will be Jewish people who fall through the cracks.

Financial assistance At the beginning of this fiscal

year JFCS was concerned about its ability to continue to provide financial assistance to both the Jewish and non-Jewish communi-ties. The dollars we receive fall under the category of prevention and we were not seeing this as be-

ing a state or city priority. We are so thankful that one of the families that has been a large supporter of JFCS over the years assisted us in raising dollars to help fill the gap until we could secure other fund-ing to meet this need. Happily, we can report that by the second quarter of the year, we were able to secure funding through a federal Supportive Services for Veteran Families grant. We also became first-time recipients of City of Jacksonville Emergency Solutions Grant dollars to serve individuals and families at risk of homeless-ness.

Staying true to our mission of helping people help themselves, we expanded the training sites for our Standing Tall Life Skills pro-gram, teaching classes at Barnabas Center in Nassau County, the Sulz-bacher Center, City Rescue Mis-sion and the Women’s Resource Center. We strive to build indepen-dence for those we serve.

We owe a huge thanks to the community and our partners that support our Winn-Dixie Emer-gency Food Pantry. In just the first three quarters of the fiscal year, the Winn-Dixie Emergency Food Pantry surpassed the number of clients served in the entire prior year. From July through April, we fed 6,147 hungry people, which equates to 55,323 meals!

Achievers for LifeOther ways we have an every-

day impact in our community is through our Achievers for Life Program. This is a United Way-funded program that is focused on keeping students and parents engaged in education, with the goal of reducing the dropout rate in Duval County. We have staff based in nine middle schools around the community providing onsite support, therapy, linkage with supportive services and par-ent education and engagement activities. Since 2007 we have seen a 98 percent success rate with this program. We gauge success in four main ways: 1) the student is promoted to the next grade, 2) improvement with attendance, 3) decrease in disciplinary issues at school, and 4) attendance of parents each month at educational events. We have amazing partner-ships with Big Brothers Big Sis-ters and Communities in Schools, which provide mentors for each of our students as well. We want our children and their parents to be excited about education, confi-dent that if they work hard they can achieve, and to recognize the importance of the role the parent must play in order for their chil-dren to be successful.

Child WelfareThroughout our years of work-

ing in the Child Welfare System, we have seen many significant changes but nothing as great as the transformation that is occurring

now. There always will be those situations where removing a child from their home is the only way to ensure their safety, but more times than not the removal can be the most traumatic event for the child. We can really have an impact on a system that has always had good intentions but sometimes has hurt the very ones it was designed to help. DCF, FSS, Community Part-ners and JFCS all agree that if we can provide intense services in the home with the children and care-givers, and prevent the disruption of the child leaving their home, this is the best-case scenario. Due to our success in this area, we will see significant growth in this pro-gram and will expand our services into Nassau County.

AdoptionJFCS has completed private

adoptions for 60 years! When we look back at all of the families that we helped bring together, this definitely is a program that speaks to the heart of what JFCS strives to accomplish every day. You have only to see the look on the adoptive parents faces when they see their child for the first time, or months down the road when we visit the family and we see a child who is thriving and happy to know that we have made a difference. We truly have changed lives for

the better. As many of you know, I have personal experiences with adoption; I am myself adopted and my adopted son, Nathan, is 2 years old. I’m so proud of the adoption work that is taking place here at JFCS.

CounselingOur counseling program is the

quiet support that is always behind the scenes helping children, adults and seniors as they move through the transitions of life. Due to the nature of the work and the fact we adhere to the strictest confidential-ity guidelines, very often people don’t see the impact we are having on both the Jewish and non-Jewish community through this program. People come to us needing support and guidance, and our therapists provide that with such profession-alism and kindness.

I hope this article has given you new insight into some of the hap-penings at JFCS. As I mentioned at the start, JFCS is so grateful to have such strong community support, an involved Board of Directors and phenomenal staff who work diligently to help over 13,000 people who walk through our doors every year.

Thank you, Colleen RodriguezExecutive Director

By Jewish Family & Community Services

This year JFCS honors two groups who have helped save thousands of families, children and seniors each year. JFCS honors Winn-Dixie Store #190 as partner of the year and the Winn-Dixie Foundation as corporation of the year.

If it was not for Winn-Dixie Store #190, hundreds of home-bound seniors would go without food and permit them to follow

dietary laws. Store #190 has served as a pivotal friend for stor-ing meals for JFCS’ Kosher Kart program and provides the Jewish community access to kosher food. Their staff has always provided excellent customer services to en-sure needs are met and help those in need. We are extremely grateful to the leadership of Winn-Dixie Store #190, Kendrick Hobbs, for his continued support of JFCS and the Kosher Kart program.

In September 2003 JFCS

named and dedicated the onsite pantry as the Winn-Dixie Emer-gency Food Pantry due to the generosity of the Winn-Dixie Foundation. The Winn-Dixie Emergency Food Pantry serves as

a safety net for families, which, in these uncertain times, is more important than ever. For families struggling just to keep a roof over their heads, receiving grocer-ies from the pantry causes them one less worry at the end of the month.

The food pantry is a core component of our wraparound services for at-risk families. Our services focus on prevention – helping prevent malnutrition, homelessness and family insta-

bility. Working arm-in-arm with our other supportive services, the Winn-Dixie Emergency Food Pantry helps some of our com-munity’s most vulnerable families meet the basic need of nutrition, helping them regain their foot-ing in these uncertain economic times.

Thank you Winn-Dixie Store #190 and the Winn-Dixie Foun-dation for your friendship and partnership with JFCS and the Jewish community.


JFCS thanks Winn-Dixie Store #190 and Winn-Dixie Foundation

JFCS looks back on a year of helping people help themselves

PJ Library event held at Barnes & Noble with Laurie DuBow

At left, Eight Notes of Hanukah event at Mt. Carmel. At right, PJ Library event - Colleen and Nathan Rodriguez JFCS Passover Seder for Holocaust Survivors, held at River Garden


YEAR IN REVIEW: JEWISH COMMUNITY ALLIANCE

As we celebrated our 25th birthday in 2013, the Jewish Community Alliance continued to grow, change and strengthen our Jewish commitment and involve-ment. We also continued to make improvements to our building, equipment, programs, services and staff. We served the Jewish community more completely and better than ever before.

We continued to serve our Jew-ish community through programs like our nationally accredited preschool, elementary after-school care, classical music concerts, art classes, theater outings, AARP mature driving courses, and a host of sports, recreation and fitness activities.

For the third year in a row, JCA members gave the JCA staff, programs and facility the highest ratings in a study by the national Jewish Community Centers As-sociation.

The JCA’s 25th birthday celebration included a special concert performed by a trio of award-winning Young Concert Artists soloists, an adult birthday breakfast attended by more than 100 members, the Expressions Art Show from Israel, the unearthing of a time capsule from 1988 and the burial of a new time capsule, a display of members’ photos and stories of how the JCA has impacted their lives and a gala fund-raising birthday party.

The program and administra-tive directors of the JCA embarked on a yearlong study process of Jewish peoplehood and Israel. Their study included an eight-day seminar in Israel where the group visited sites that are central in Judaism and Jewish peoplehood. The trip included discussions with journalists, artists, and scholars. The agency also organized a simi-lar trip to Israel for JCA members.

The 16th annual Jewish Book Festival, held for two weeks in November, attracted hundreds of participants attending the vari-

ous events. There was a wide and interesting variety of books by Jewish authors, including Rabbi Richard F. Address (“Seekers of Meaning – Baby Boomers, Juda-ism, and the Pursuit of Healthy Aging”), Steve Berry (“The Columbus Affair”), Guiliano Hazan (“Hazan Family Favor-ites – Beloved Italian Recipes”) and Edie Lutnick (“An Unbroken Bond – The Untold Story of How the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald Families Faced the Tragedy of 9/11 and Beyond”).”

The Patrons’ Brunch featured David Misch, author of “Funny: The Book – Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Comedy.”

The Vandroff Art Gallery offers local artists and photographers the opportunity to exhibit their work to a large audience of JCA mem-bers and nonmembers.

The JCA Concert Series presented free performances by prize-winning musicians from the Young Concert Artists Series including violinist Paul Huang and pianist Andrew Tyson.

The JCA Film Series showed a film of Jewish interest every month. Films included “Six Days in June – The War That Redefined the Middle East,” “The Jazz Sing-er,” “Gentleman’s Agreement,” “The Young Lions,” “Annie Hall,” “Avalon,” “School Ties,” “Liberty Heights” and “Keeping the Faith.”

The Early Childhood Education Department presented its 4th An-nual Early Childhood Symposium, “Through a Child’s Eyes,” along with a free follow-up workshop for parents of Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool students.

Almost 400 members of all ages attended the Annual JCA Chanukah Party. Our famous hot dog and latke dinner was served. The JCA Theater of Youth sang traditional Chanukah songs. Parents and children participated in a variety of hands-on activi-ties such as craft projects, dreidel playing, Maccabbi games and

cookie decorating. New toys were collected and donated to Jewish Family & Community Services to be distributed to needy families.

More than 300 members enjoyed a festive meal, songs and crafts for the children at the Pizza in the Hut Sukkot Family Celebra-tion in October.

The Traditions Cart is a perma-nent fixture in the JCA lobby. The children of the Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool help to create the cart projects focusing on the holidays of the Jewish calendar. The cart has succeeded in teaching Jews and non-Jews the signifi-cance of our holidays.

J Institute programs offered over the past year ranged from advice for better sleep to how to speak to aging parents to bicycle maintenance.

Classes are offered in pottery, drawing, oil painting, watercolor and mixed media.

The JCA offers a wide variety of programs to enhance the physi-cal, emotional and psychological well-being of our members and the community at large. Programs included Sit and Get Fit, monthly health lectures that are free and open to the community, yoga, nutrition seminars, senior stretch and tone, blood pressure screen-ings, and senior lunch and learn programs.

Building teen and youth involvement is developing at the JCA, especially in our Sports & Recreation Department, The-ater Department and the Youth Services Department. We provide programming and many activities for our youth population utilizing an interdepartmental approach to program development with an emphasis on social activities, educational programs, the arts, volunteerism and sports.

The Youth Services Depart-ment’s Break Away Day program, which provides care on days when schools are closed for K-6 grades, serviced over 1,000 students.

A very successful continuing

program for teens is Jacksonville Teens Volunteer with projects at the Jacksonville Zoo, the Sulz-bacher Center, River Garden Hebrew Home and Mandarin Museum/Walter Jones Historical Park.

Our Theatre Department has evolved from a Youth Services Department program to a depart-ment that serves members of all ages.

We continued to entertain and educate over 20,000 elementary school children with our Magic Wardrobe series. Each show in this repertory-style program fol-lows the educational curriculum of the Duval, Clay and St. Johns county school systems.

Our JCA youth and teen basketball leagues had 30 teams and almost 225 participants rang-ing in ages from 4 to 18 and 32 volunteer coaches. The JCA Select basketball teams (co-ed), ages ranging from 8-15, had 30 players participate. Youth soccer league had 157 players age 4-12 and 24 volunteer coaches. Flag football league had 151 players and 28 volunteer coaches. JCA started its first ever AAU basketball program for 10th-graders. The JCA Sports & Recreation Department offered a variety of preschool, elementary,

and middle school sports clinics ranging from basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, youth running club, lacrosse, floor hockey, base-ball, flag football, fencing, martial arts, etc.

Summer swim team had 75 JCA member participants. The JCA offered numerous group and private swim lessons along with year-round swim conditioning and technique clinics.

The JCA Tennis Department of-fered numerous tennis clinics and private lessons for youth age 4-18.

The JCA Fitness Department continued a monthly fitness center program for members that focuses on a fitness topic.

Senior adults enjoyed a variety of musical programs throughout the year. The Taste & Tour with the JCA series offered day trips to points of interest in the area fol-lowed by a delicious meal.

The JCA Summer Camp pro-gram is accredited by the Ameri-can Camping Association and served over 800 different campers last summer. Our program offers camp activities for children age 1 through high school. The pre-school camp offers the same se-curity and quality to our youngest population that is received year-


The JCA Board of Directors has honored David A. Stein, Al-lison Jacobs, Carlos Bouvier and the members of the 25th Birthday Celebration Committee.

David A. Stein received the Howard Korman President’s Award. It is named for Howard Korman, past president of the JCA, whose leadership, vision and courage allowed the agency to navigate trying and difficult challenges. This award recognizes board members who have emu-lated these significant qualities of leadership, vision and courage during the past program year.

Stein is being honored for his work as honorary chair of the JCA’s 25th Birthday Party. He is the honorary chairman of the JCA Board and was also the JCA’s first board president.

“Stein’s leadership in this event was exemplary! His com-mitment and support of the JCA has not wavered in the last 25 years,” said Jan Lipsky, JCA board president.

It is because of this devotion to the JCA that Stein and his wife Linda were asked to serve as honorary chairs of the milestone event, alongside Howard and Joy Korman.

At the end of the event eve-

ning, all were in agreement that, to quote Stein’s remarks, the JCA had, “hit a grand slam home run!”

Allison Jacobs and Carlos Bouvier received the Special Ser-vices Award. This award is given to an individual who demonstrates outstanding service to our agency.

Allison Jacobs is being honored for her work as project manager of the JCA’s 25th Birth-day Party.

“Allison truly embodied the spirit of the event. She was com-mitted to fitting all the pieces of the puzzle together in order to create a perfect event for the JCA’s milestone,” said Executive Director Myron Flagler. “Allison helped to create a fabulous eve-

ning that all will remember for the next 25 years and beyond!”

Jacobs spent the last year working with the Birthday Party Committee to ensure that the event went off without a hitch. In her “spare time” she is mother to Josh, 11; and Sarah, 14; and wife to Ken, JCA past president whom she met at a JCA event.

According to Jacobs, “The JCA is such an important part of my life and the lives of everyone in my family! I met my husband here; my children grew up here in theatre and summer camp! It was a pleasure to be a part of this historic occasion for the JCA.”

Carlos Bouvier is being recognized for his work on the

JCA’s 25th birthday documentary. In partnership with Dan Kossoff, Bouvier spent countless hours shooting footage, interviewing members, and editing his work to create a film that accurately conveys the role the Jewish Com-munity Alliance plays in the Jacksonville community and the lives of so many individuals.

“Carlos’s passion for our agency really grew and developed while working on this film. It became a labor of love; I watched as he began his own JCA story,” said Kossoff.

Go to www.jcajax.org to view the video retrospective created by Carlos Bouvier and Dan Kossoff. You’re sure to fall in love with the

JCA all over again! The 2013 Award of Apprecia-

tion was created to formally rec-ognize all who contributed to the success of the JCA’s 25th birthday celebration. The planning process, which spanned more than a year, included subcommittees for JCA stories, documentary film, time capsule unearthing and burial, decorations, food, evening pro-gram and commemorative book.

Thank you to all the com-mittee members who worked to make this momentous occasion possible: Jill Abel, Alexandra Ackerman, Suzette Allen, Debbie Banks-Kitay, Shirley Bielski, Er-nie Brodsky, Lois Chepenik, Irene Cywes, Helen DuBow, Mary Edwards, Dina Fetner, Matthew Flagler, Sierra Frisch, Stephen Goldman, Mark Green, Judi Greenhut, Sharon Herbst, Risa Herman, Ken Jacobs, Irene Jaffa, Howard Korman, Joy Korman, Dan Kossoff, Dinah Kossoff, Sa-mantha Levin, Jan Lipsky, Andrea Mail, Daniel Miller, David Miller, Monique Miller, Mauri Mizrahi, Nancy Perlman, Kim Robbins, Shari Saye, Ilene Schinasi, Fran Selevan, Rebekah Selevan, Steve Sherman, Kimberly Sisisky, David Stein, Linda Stein, Randee Steinberg, Rori Stevens, Alison Trager, David Wolf, Robin Wolf, and Chase Zimmerman.


David A. Stein Allison Jacobs Carlos Bouvier

Jewish Community Alliance board honors leaders

Jewish Community Alliance continues to grow, strengthen

Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool JK students sell tickets to their art gallery.

See JCA, p. 10


FEDERATION/COMMUNITY NEWSJCAContinued from p. 9round in our NAEYC-accredited preschool and kindergarten.

The Early Childhood Educa-tion Department continued to offer the very best programming for young children. Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool is one of the fi rst programs in the area to achieve re-accreditation under the new, far more rigorous NAEYC guidelines.

Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool has partnered with the Cummer Art Museum and Gardens, the Jacksonville Sym-phony, MOSH, the Jacksonville Zoo, Riverside Fine Arts Project Listen, Hope Haven and Nemours BrightStart to enhance its students’

learning experience.Michele Block Gan Yeladim

Preschool also produced the always popular Bountiful Baskets fundraiser.

Our website, jcajax.org, provid-ed information on JCA programs, activities and events in searchable formats. The site enables par-ticipants to register for programs online and provides an additional avenue of communication between the community and the JCA staff.

The JCA’s Facebook page has more than 1,100 followers who receive updates on JCA events, programs and activities.

The JCA also used a weekly e-newsletter e-mail blast, Twit-ter, video kiosks and in-house TV programming to keep clients informed of upcoming events, programs and activities.

Seven years ago I presented a proposal to Alan Margolies for a Jewish welcome wagon. It was to be a program for newcomers and anyone newly interested in our community. Our programs would be held in public spaces and most would be low barrier and free. Here we are halfway through 2013, entering our eighth year and still going strong. Our programs have welcomed and touched close to 1,000 newcomers during this time. Many have become ac-tive members of our community, joined synagogues and the Jewish Community Alliance, and have volunteered their time and given of their treasure to help build and maintain our community.

I am grateful to the Federation for its continued support; to our synagogues, schools and agen-

cies and their professional staffs for sharing new member names; to Jewish realtors for touting our community to future resi-dents; and to all of you who have welcomed our newbies and made them feel at home. It has truly been a team effort and one of which we can all be very proud.

As summer approaches, many new families will be moving to Northeast Florida. Please let us know if you meet a new neigh-bor or co-worker. The sooner we welcome them the sooner they will connect to our community. You may have been a newcomer once and remember the fi rst Jew-ish person who approached you and made you feel at home. Well, my friend, it is your turn to pay it forward. This is the season of welcome, and we all need to do our part. Be mindful of new faces and mezuzahs on the door. Enjoy your summer.

Jewish Java: A place to connect

It happens the fi rst Wednesday of every month – Jewish Java. Each month brings regulars, newcomers and many people who are interested in making new friendships and Jewish connec-tions. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived in Jacksonville, you have an open invitation to join us anytime. Treat yourself to a fresh breakfast, a bagel or Danish and enjoy free coffee and tea. Mark your calendars now for the fi rst Wednesday of every month from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Village Bread, 10111 San Jose Blvd.

Our June and July Javas will be June 5 and July 3. This fall we are planning Javas at the beaches, Fleming Island and St. Augustine. If you would like a Java in your neighborhood, please call us: Isa-bel Balotin, 904-448-5000 x 206 or [email protected].

By ISABEL BALOTINShalom Jacksonville

Shalom Jax: seven years strong

Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU

The Museum is supported by individual contributions, foundations, memberships and grants from the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural A�airs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural A�airs and the Cultural A�airs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners and the City of Miami Beach, Cultural A�airs Program, Cultural Arts Council.

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The Jacksonville Jewish Center is excited to announce that it has added a new full-time position to its professional staff. The Center understands that meaningful class-room formal educational experi-ences are essential, but recognizes that for many, it is the experiential educational moments that occur in camp and youth group settings

that leave a lasting impact. With that in mind, the Center has hired Ezra Flom as its fi rst director of experiential education. Ezra will spend his time working with the Center’s youth groups, Camp Ki Tov summer day camp and scout-ing programs.

Ezra holds a master’s degree in Jewish education with a focus on experiential education from the American Jewish University in Los

By Jacksonville Jewish Center Angeles. When Ezra visited the Center last month, he spent time with all the youth. Talia Fetner, a member of the Jacksonville Jewish Center’s USY chapter said, “He brings a lot of energy and enthusi-asm. I can’t wait for him to help us take USY to the next level!”

Lenny Maiman, co-chair of the DEE Search Committee, was impressed by Ezra’s ability to bring positive Jewish experiences into all programs while still making them fun. “He has a unique ability to build relationships with children of all ages. We look forward to him bringing all his strengths and assets to the Center community,” Lenny said.

For more information about any of the Center’s experiential programs, contact Rabbi Olitzky at 268-4200 ext. 134.

Center hires director of experiential education

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WRJ/Temple Sisterhood’s Executive and General Board were installed during worship on Sisterhood Shabbat May 10. The Executive Board offi cers are as follows:

Co-Presidents Susan Board and Rhoda London; President Elect Morleen Berlin; Member-ship Co- VP’s Celeste Danos and Rochelle Miller; Programming Co-VP’s Marie Reitzes and Joyce Elkin; Temple and Community Co-VP’s Ann Stone and Gail Kodner; Ways and Means Co-VP’s Ann DePaul and Morleen Berlin; Recording Secretary Jody Dughi; Treasurer Laura Osofsky; Immediate Past President Celeste Danos; Parliamentarian Gail Jar-

rett, second Past President; Past President Reva Sandler; Centen-nial Ambassador Ruthie Nach-man.

In honor of WRJ’s 100th anniversary, two special women were chosen for special honors. Ruthie Nachman, past sisterhood president (1967-69) and Temple’s fi rst female president (1990-92), was recognized for her role as centennial ambassador. Heidi Ruff was named as our centennial unsung heroine. She was awarded a beautiful framed certifi cate, and her name will appear on the WRJ website. Heidi has been active in sisterhood for over 20 years. She was one of the originators of the Women’s Seder and a co-creator of Temple’s award-winning Youth Torah. She has co-chaired donor

By Temple Sisterhood

On April 24 Center Sisterhood held the About Face(s) luncheon featuring information on women’s skin and the aging process. Sister-hood hosted two doctors from the community to speak about what to do to keep our skin and faces youthful looking. Dr. Mark Cheiken is a dermatologist, and Dr. Erez Sternberg is a cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon. Both doctors were excellent presenters.

One attendee noted, “It was sad and a bit funny listening to the litany of things that happen to our facial skin as we age – sag-ging, loss of collagen, loss of fat, falling eyelids and even falling eyebrows.”

According to the doctors the

three most important preventive things to do for your skin are: use Retin-A, limit sun exposure and take vitamin D supplements (to compensate for possible vitamin D defi ciency). They advised that if you must be in the sun, then use very high SPF and reapply every two hours.

They also spoke about cos-metic procedures – botox, brow lifts, mini face lifts, and so on – that have really opened up the possibilities for enhancement as compared to what was available a few years ago.

Judging by the number of questions, it is obvious that this topic really touched a nerve. Spe-cial thanks to Rhoda Goldstein for not only chairing but serving as MC of a great event.

By Center Sisterhood

Center Sisterhood congratu-lates Gayle Bailys on being named the 2013 Rabbi David Gaffney Leadership in Education Award recipient.

Gayle is the current Torah Fund vice president for sisterhood and a former sisterhood presi-dent, as well as the current Youth

Department director and former camp director for the Jacksonville Jewish Center.

She has had an impact on so many Center children and their families and is a most worthy honoree. Your sisterhood is proud of you! We look forward to cel-ebrating with you at the offi cial award presentation on June 2, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m., at the Center.


On June 12 at 6:30 p.m. Center Sisterhood will host the Annual Donor Event, this year’s Donor Divas. Proceeds benefi t capital improvements as well as scholar-ships for Center Youth to attend summer camp. So we hope you

will don the bling and head on over to the Center. There will be Diva doings, Diva dollars to spend, and Diva tidbits to help you channel your inner-Diva. It’s all for a good cause, so please join us. Contact Margo Ruby at 733-7902 for more information or to RSVP.


and other events, including WRJ’s Southeast District Convention when it was held in Jacksonville. She has done all this while always participating as an active member of sisterhood’s catering crew.

This centennial year has been a memorable one for Temple and sisterhood. In addition to all sisterhood’s ongoing activities, Temple celebrated sisterhood at a special Shabbat service enjoyed

by reform/progressive congrega-tions worldwide on March 1. Temple is proud of its hardwork-ing sisterhood and especially Ruthie and Heidi, sisterhood’s centennial honorees.

Temple Sisterhood installs executive, general board

Sisterhood’s About Face(s) event a success

Mazal Tov to our sister

Center Sisterhood plans to dazzle with Donor Divas

A Summer Eat & Schmooze program is planned for Sunday, July 21, at the Marriott South-point for a delightful indoor pic-nic sponsored by Jewish Family & Community Services.

The program will include live music by Body and Soul, who will play show music by Jewish composers, and a bagel buffet brunch catered by Classic Kosher

Catering. This will be an op-portunity for survivors and their families to meet each other and socialize in a friendly, informal setting.

Please contact Naomi Mi-rensky at (904) 394-5777 or [email protected] to reserve your place or for more informa-tion about our quarterly Eat & Schmooze get-togethers or other services offered for Holocaust survivors.


Holocaust survivors and families to celebrate independence

The Torah portion we read this past Shabbat begins with directions for Moses

on how to make the Menorah, the seven-branch can-delabrum that was lit each day in the Temple. Hashem instructs that the Menorah is to be hammered out of one, solid piece of gold, which is ap-propriate since the Menorah was and to this day remains the primary symbol of Jewish unity. Our sages tell us, however, that Moses had dif-ficulty with the instructions, so much so that Hashem ultimately told Moses to throw the gold into the fire and promised a finished Menorah would emerge. Appar-ently, Jewish unity has always been easier to describe than it is to achieve.

Jewish unity is the central mis-sion of our Jacksonville Jewish Federation. We are the organi-zation that unites our Jewish community’s organizations and schools, as we provide funding to all. And, through our support of overseas agencies and the Israel Partnership, we unite the mem-bers of our community with Jews in Israel and around the world. Although our activities are varied, our purpose is singular – build Jewish community. It is a worthy purpose and one that I am proud to have led these past two years.

I have had the good fortune to work with Alan Margolies and a dedicated Federation staff. Alan’s passion and commitment to our community inspires me, and I am privileged to call him a close friend. We had transition in our

Federation office over the past year. I thank Joanne Cohen and Jan Olander for many years of service to our community; they have helped build the founda-tion on which we all stand. I look

forward to the con-tributions of Erin Cohen and Jeanine Hoff, who represent our future.

In addition to its talented staff, the Federation benefits from the dedication of scores of vol-unteers who give selflessly to better our community and improve the lives of others. While it is

impossible to name each indi-vidually, I thank those with whom I have served on the executive committee, board and commit-tees, as well all those who make the work of the Federation their own by planning and attending events, taking cards and giving of their time and resources.

I also want to thank all of our agency, school and synagogue professional and lay leaders. Jacksonville is fortunate to have a uniquely talented group of Jewish communal leaders and it has been a pleasure working with them. I am a better leader for having worked with and learned from these talented individuals.

I consider my election as Federation president to have been an honor bestowed upon me, and I took seriously my responsibility to use the position to work for the betterment of the entire com-munity. As my tenure ends, I am proud of our accomplishments. Over the past two years, we have significantly reduced Federation operating expense, ensuring our donors that we are as efficient as possible and that their dollars are focused on the beneficiary

agencies we support. This year we saw six-figure growth in our campaign, which provides a very meaningful benefit to all of our beneficiary agencies and the people they serve. Congratu-lations to Alan, the staff, Hal Resnick as campaign chair, Sandy Zimmerman as Major Gifts chair, Wendy Efron as Women’s Divi-sion president, and Risa Herman as Women’s Division Campaign chair on their accomplishment. Your achievement is shared with past Federation leaders and the countless volunteers who worked on this year’s campaign, all of whom made possible the suc-cess they realized. With Alan and his staff, as well as Hal and his leadership team, in place, I am confident that our Federation’s future is bright.

The Torah adds to its descrip-tion of the Menorah by telling us that all of the branches of the Menorah were tilted slightly in-ward. In this way, each branch not only burned brightly on its own, but also strengthened and was strengthened by the flames from each other branch. So too with our Jewish community – each of our agencies, schools and syna-gogues shines brightly on its own, and we all shine most beautifully when we are working together for the benefit of the entire com-munity. The community Annual Meeting is a testament to the tal-ented professional and lay leaders who ensure each branch of our Jewish community burns brightly, as well as to the commitment of all branches to work together and strengthen each other. It has been an honor and privilege to serve our community these past two years, and I look forward to con-tinuing to find ways to contribute to our community’s future success as we all work together to keep the Jacksonville Jewish commu-nity’s flame burning brightly.


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Untitled-3 1 9/19/2011 10:55:18 AM

The Bernard & Alice Selevan Religious School is blessed with an amazing facility and unprec-edented access to technology – smartboards and enough laptops for every student in the classroom – unheard of in most other con-gregational schools. The school is fortunate to have a staff willing to spend hours studying advances in religious school curriculum and 21st century learning. Additional-ly, often in collaboration with the other Galinsky Academy schools, numerous opportunities for real time, experiential programs are provided. It is no wonder that the Bernard & Alice Selevan

Religious School is one of the few conservative, congregational schools in this country that have shown a signifi cant increase in en-rollment over the past decade.

This year, a self-paced Hebrew reading and prayer curriculum was introduced, which allows stu-dents to work on their level with a variety of resources for all types of learners. In addition to favorite programs – Sukkah Decorating Day, Pizza in the Hut, Chanu-kah sing-a-longs, Purim shpiel and carnival, and Model Seder experiences – students learned about Jewish a capella song with Pizmon; treated the children at Sulzbacher with a Chanukah ex-perience; danced with the Torah at

By Jacksonville Jewish Center

National Junior Honor Soci-ety is available at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School for students in the seventh and eighth grades. The Ceremony of Induction was held on May 2. Aaron Kitay (8th grade), Avichai Lubliner (8th grade), Joshua Feig (7th grade), Allie Israel (7th grade), Sabrina Mail (7th grade), Max Mizrahi (7th grade), Montgomery Phil-lips (7th grade), Shelby Weiss (7th grade) and Reesa Zaifert (7th grade) were this year’s new inductees adding to the four other MJGDS students already in NJHS. These students excel on an academic level as well as citi-zenship, service, leadership and character. At the Martin J. Got-tlieb Day School, students need to have an average 3.5 GPA for two semesters to become eligible. In addition, students must have six extracurricular points. Points are accumulated by achieving honor roll or principal’s list, involve-ment in student council, plac-ing in the spelling bee or bible contest, and performing extra mitzvoth on their own time. Pins, cards and certifi cates of mem-bership were presented to each inductee. MJGDS is proud of the new NJHS inductees.

By Martin J. Gottlieb Day School

National Junior Honor Society inducted

the congregational Hoshana Rab-bah observance; and celebrated Israel’s 65th birthday at Commu-nity University. They also visited the Museum of Modern Slavery, cleaned up a park with mitzvah hero Danny Siegel, and attended the dedication of a new ARMDI

Israeli ambulance before it headed overseas.

The school’s goal is to guide students as they experience Juda-ism in a safe and loving, family-oriented environment. All children graduate with a strong foundation in ritual and prayer, but they also

leave with a love and respect for Judaism that will encourage them to continue to become lifelong Jewish learners.

For more information, please visit our website at www.basrs.org or call Lois Tompkins, principal, at 268-4200, ext. 145.

Religious School registration open for grades K- 7


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and tour. And tell your friends, so you know, you can wear matching outfits.

For three years the Jackson-ville Jewish Center has been involved with Operation Isaiah. Why? The answer is right here in Jacksonville.

One in six people suffer from hunger. One in four children does not know where their next meal is coming from. These children depend on their school to serve them their breakfast. There is no money to buy a burger or a soda at the nearest fast food restaurant. 35% of seniors choose between buying food for themselves, their pets or their medicines. They barely have enough money to pay

for their utilities.Now you have the answer.

So the next time you go to the grocery shop and see the buy-one-get-one items, pick them up and bring one of them to the Center and drop them off in the carts in the front lobby. Every can or package of food will serve a person one meal.

All foods are delivered weekly to the Jewish Family & Commu-nity Services pantry. By everyone pitching in, perhaps we can wipe out hunger in our own commu-nity.

The Jacksonville Jewish Cen-ter is located at 3662 Crown Point Road.


Have you ever wondered what makes a food kosher or not? Have you ever wondered about the difference between the kosher symbols on food packaging? Can a food look forbidden but in fact be kosher? Can a food seem kosher, but actually be forbidden? Why is chicken meat but fi sh isn’t? Are you hungry and want to try some tasty treats while learning at the same time? These, and any other questions you might ask are all on the menu for our Lifelong Learning program, “Food for Thought: Ma’arit Ayin and the Laws of Kashrut.” Join us in the Temple kitchen on Monday night, June 3, as we cook together, eat together and learn together. No prior knowledge or cooking skill is required, and all are welcome.

By Congregation Ahavath Chesed

A Share Shabbat was held at Beth El The Beaches Synagogue. Current members and some new faces to the Beth El family en-joyed a brisket dinner prepared by Beth El volunteers. At right: The fi rst and second graders made Shema Shirts as part of incorporating the Shema into their nighttime rituals.

Kehillah Chadashah is again honoring the victims and survi-vors of the Holocaust by selling the second edition of the “Holo-caust Survivor Cookbook.” This second cookbook is call “Miracles and Meals” and includes 115 new survivor stories and 250 new kosher recipes. The book is fi lled with wonderful stories by survivors each accompanied with a delicious family recipe. In addi-tion to honoring the memories of those who perished in the Holo-caust and those who survived and rebuilt productive, positive lives; funds raised from the sale of the cookbook go to a soup kitchen in Carmei Ha’ir Soup Kitchen in Jerusalem. The book is $36 and makes a wonderful gift to yourself or for someone else you care about. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. To order your book(s) you can email [email protected].

By Kehillah Chadashah

As Kehillah Chadashah continues to grow, we added ad-ditional Shabbat services. Join us for Shabbat the second and fourth Friday nights of every month at 7 p.m. The fourth Friday night services are Kabbalat Shabbat with more time dedicated to study and discussion. Services are held in members’ home, creating an intimate, friendly, welcoming and spiritual experience. For more information, email Kehillah Cha-dashah at [email protected]. June services are June 14 and June 28. Come and let our spirit move you.

By Kehillah Chadashah

Food for thought: the laws of kashrut

Miracles and Meals planned

Kehillah Chadashah welcomes the Sabbath

Operation Isaiah needs food

Beth El Share Shabbat


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Last month, Michele Block Gan Yeladim families came together to celebrate Shabbat and Lag B’Omer. Shabbat is the day of rest, and as tradition has it, Lag B’Omer is a day for picnics and time spent outdoors. Families gathered in the beautiful JCA courtyard for a relaxing and delicious picnic dinner, storytelling, candle lighting, songs, prayers, playground activities and priceless family bonding.

The Martin J. Gottlieb Day School would like to invite the commu-nity to this year’s eighth-grade graduation. The commencement exercises will take place on Thursday, June 6, at 10:30 a.m. at the Jacksonville Jewish Center. Congratulations to the MJGDS Class of 2013: Julia Kahn, Aaron Kitay, Avichai Lubliner, Ryan Mizrahi, Joey Plotkin, and Rachel Spector.

MJGDS graduation

Block Gan Lag B’Omer


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With passports and luggage in hand, Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool students boarded their nonstop fl ights to Israel for a day to celebrate Israel’s birthday and 65th year of independence — Yom Ha’atzmaut. Throughout the day, classes traveled across Israel, stopping in various places to discover the traditions and signifi cance of this holiday.

At the entrance to the school stood a towering replica of the Kotel, or Western Wall — the

only remaining vestige of what surrounded the last Temple in Jerusalem. Students stuck pieces of paper with wishes and mes-sages on the wall. Students took a history lesson during their archaeological dig for ancient artifacts such Kiddush cups and tiles. Later they took a lesson in Israeli commerce as they traveled to the Shuk to purchase snacks with shekels. A trip to the kibbutz to milk cows gave students a taste of Israeli agriculture, while a dip in the rejuvenating Dead Sea gave them a chance to rest from their day of travel.

By MOLLY SWEETMichele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool

The DuBow Preschool’s Shalom Baby classroom is a busy, happy place where parents, babies and toddlers meet to socialize, discuss parenting topics and cel-ebrate Shabbat. Each class offers songs, stories, circle time, crafts and hot topic discussions.

Our program is open to the Jewish community. It is our hope to bring together Jewish families

during this precious time of life. Our last play dates were lots of

fun, with great topics. In May we made sweet Mother’s Day keep-sakes and learned about keeping our cuties safe in the summer sun. We invite all parents and children ages 3 – 36 months to join us on June 7 for a special Shalom Baby water play day. If you are interested in learning more, please call the DuBow Preschool at 268-4200 ext. 143.

By DuBow Preschool

Shalom Baby free playgroup open

Block Gan discovers Israel

EDUCATION


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On June 18, 1964, 16 rabbis were arrested in St. Augustine, the largest mass arrest of rabbis in the United States. On June 18, 2013, an African-American student of one of those rabbis will join his voice to the voices of those 16, as the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society marks the 49th anniversary of the work of those rabbis who stood with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to drive the Ku Klux Klan out of America’s oldest city. The rabbis came to St. Augustine at the request of King as “a creative witness to our joint convictions

of equality and racial justice.” The St. Augustine Jewish

Historical Society will mark this anniversary of the largest mass arrest of rabbis in the United

States across the street from the arrest site, now the Hilton Garden Inn, 32 Avenida Me-nendez. The group will gather at noon, Tues-day, June 18, and hear Dr. Wayne Gunthorpe read the two-page letter written by the rabbis in the St. Johns County

Jail. The 20-minute free ceremony is open to the

public. The ceremony will include

the reading of a letter composed by the 16 rabbis, including Rabbi Leon Jick, then of the Free Synagogue of Westchester in

Mt. Vernon, N.Y. The letter will be read by a former student of Rabbi Jick, Dr. Wayne Gunthor-pe, psychologist, recently retired from Piscataway Township School District, N.J.

The Jewish Historical Society sees St. Augustine as both a geo-graphical and spiritual center for the preservation of the memory of the role Jews played in the Civil Rights movement. Howard Sachar, professor emeritus of history and international affairs at George Washington Univer-sity, has noted that “nowhere did Jews identify themselves more forthrightly with the liberal avant-garde than in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.” Yet no one geographical location is identifi ed with Jewish involve-ment in the movement for justice and racial equality.

By Jewish Historical Society

When you read a news story about Israel, do you think you are reading the facts as they unfolded? Do you wonder if there is editorial bias embedded in the story? Do you wonder if editorial slant is be-ing presented as factual reporting?

HonestReporting is focused on developing tools and trends to respond to threats and opportuni-ties of the internet, from dangerous anti-Israel cyber-attacks to far-reaching viral videos that claim to educate. HonestReporting seeks to expose media bias. Their objective is truth, always urging reporters to tell both sides of the story. Their efforts are focused on empowering the reader to expose media bias and demand honest reporting.

Based in Jerusalem, Hon-estReporting challenges newspaper reporters, politicians and govern-ments who write falsely about Israel. In its daily blog, Hon-

estReporting draws attention to the inaccurate information which is reported as news.

Congregation Ahavath Chesed (The Temple) will host Gary Kenzer, national USA executive director of HonestReporting on Thursday, June 20, at 7 p.m. His dynamic presentation will educate us about the organization of media outlets, the role of reporters and their relationship to headline writ-ers and photographers. A portion of his presentation will address the challenges specifi c to war report-ing.

Come with your questions. Share your concerns about our ability to understand the politics of Israeli society.

This educational experience is open to the entire community thanks to the generosity of Dr. Larry and Kathy Kanter who have established the Dr. Larry and Kathy Kanter Fund for Jewish Preservation.


Life coach training is one of the fastest growing industries in the world providing a high rate of employment for those trained in the fi eld. Individuals seeking Life Coach Certifi cation are invited to attend a weeklong intensive workshop offered by board certifi ed psychologist and author Dr. Elliott Rosenbaum beginning on Monday, June 3, at the Ramada Conference Center in Mandarin.

From June 3 to June 7, Rosen-baum will present a Life Coach Certifi cation class that combines self-study and live, in-person training experiences. Interested individuals should call the Amer-

ican School of Professional Life Coaching at (904) 252-7979 for a free consultation with Rosen-baum, which is required before registration. Upon acceptance, course materials will be mailed in preparation for the course.

Rosenbaum is a board certi-fi ed clinical psychologist and master life coach. He is also director of the American School of Professional Life Coaching located in Jacksonville. Rosen-baum received his master’s level training at John Hopkins and his doctor of psychology degree from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

For more information about the workshops, please visit www.asplc.org.

By Dr. Elliot Rosenbaum

Come join the Jax Jewish Singles for Sunday dinner at Mandaloun’s. Family owned and operated, it offers fi ne, authentic

Mediterranean cuisine. Join us for good food, good company and good conversation. Contact Francine for details at 221-8061 or email [email protected].

By Jax Jewish Singles

Dine with the Jax Jewish Singles

Dr. Elliot Rosenbaum offers life coach training workshop

Society marks anniversary of rabbi arrests

Dr. Gunthorpe

Honestreporting.com director to speak


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ADULT EDUCATIONJune 20

7 p.m. — JCA Film Series at the JCA. The JCA presents a free showing of “Keeping the Faith.” Jake and Brian are friends. They are Jewish and Catholic respectively. They would grow up to become a rabbi and priest.

Anna, whom they knew when they were younger, comes back to town a stunning woman. Jake and Brian both are attracted to Anna and complications ensue. For more information, call Thelma Nied, 730-2100 ext. 227.

EDUCATION

Cheryl Cumm sits quietly with slumbering Michele Block Gan Yeladim students in the nap room, grabbing a quick bite to eat as her students get some afternoon rest.It’s hard to believe that she has been teaching at Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool for 28 years. “I was teaching before we had the JCA,” she explains. “Gan Yeladim was just two buildings back then – on Sunbeam Road.”

In her tenure at the school, Cheryl has fi lled many roles from teaching assistant to as-

sistant director and has taught nearly every age group. She has seen a lot happen at the school.

“When we were at the old school, it was very part time, she said. “Students would only come for a few hours a day. Not many of the mothers worked all day, so they would drop off their children for those few hours so that they could run errands and their children could interact with classmates. Now, for many students, Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool has become like a second home. With so many parents working long hours, some students are at school for over 10 hours a day.

We are glad that we can be there to provide a caring, loving, en-gaging environment to children whose parents work all day.”

Cheryl said the school has been a second home and learn-ing environment for her. “The teachers here are like my ex-tended family, and I learn new things from my students every day,” she said. “I get to watch these children and see these new experiences and understand-ings through their eyes. I get to re-live the excitement of these discoveries on a daily basis.”

“I’m still here because I love children. I adore my hugs and love.”

Now is the time to sign up for Camp Ki Tov for Summer 2013. Camp Ki Tov has been providing fun, positive and safe programming in a Jewish setting for over 50 years!

Located on over 35-acres of the Jacksonville Jewish Center, Camp Ki Tov offers a ton of great programming – indoors and outdoors – for children of all ages.

Our outdoor facilities include an Olympic-sized swimming pool, tennis courts, soccer fi elds, a basketball court, baseball diamond, a Gaga pit, as well as

a Gazebo and picnic tables for outdoor bunk programming.

Our indoor facilities offer opportunities for quiet indoor games, as well as drama, arts and crafts, music, dance and many other activities. Ki Tov is the only camp in the area that offers weekly sessions and guar-antees the fun of a sleepaway camp in a day camp setting.

Our camp, under the lead-ership of Pamela Lewis and Alex Hills, also offers a Camp Rishonim Preschool program, under the leadership of Shereen Canady. The preschool program is a perfect complement to those little ones looking to continue

the learning and exploring they regularly experience in pre-school during the summer months. A daily kosher lunch is provided at camp, along with morning and afternoon snacks.

Additionally, Camp Ki Tov will be offering weekly specialty sports camps with Coach Jared Goldman: fl ag football (July 8-July 12), fl oor hockey (July 15 – July 19), basketball (July 22 – July 26), and soccer (July 29 – Aug. 2). For more informa-tion about camp or to sign up, please contact Rabbi Olitzky at 268-4200 ext. 134 or [email protected] and check us out online at campkitov.org.


What a whirlwind of a year we have had at Kids Club at the DuBow Preschool. From going around the world during winter camp to exploring the world around us through songs, stories and projects each afternoon, we are sure tired.

We spent spring break camp and the weeks surrounding it with the author Eric Carle. His books are some of our favorites and “The Tiny Seed” gave us inspira-tion as we jumped into spring. We started with exploring the garden of the DuBow Preschool, making sure on warms days each plant bed had enough water, and now we are starting one of our own in the classroom. The children are decorating their own pots, choos-ing which seed types to plant and will be responsible for looking after them once planted. To go

along with our interest in the gar-den we have taken to doing lots of fl ower art. We have used different mediums to make our own fl ow-ers, from coffee fi lters to cupcake lines, from liquid watercolors to watercolor crayons, our kids club kids have created a beautiful garden that decorates our bulletin board.

Kids Club is not just all arts, crafts and playground play. Our older Kids Club kids have become beta testers for our new iPad program in the DuBow Preschool. From exploring new apps and learning the way to properly use our technology then modeling those ways to the others in their class has been a huge help to our teachers. Our fi rst apps were recommendations by Kids Club MJGDS students. Then our tzee-porim (4 year olds) and parparim (3 year olds) Kids Clubbers were very eager to beta test these apps for their classmates and gave

great feedback on what was to hard and what they thought was interesting. They then went back to their classrooms and helped model proper use and even taught some of their classmates how to use the programs. We are so proud of our little leaders.

Now our year is coming to a close, and it’s time to choose some of our favorite things to fi nish out the year. First up, we have a week built around trans-portation, and we hope to build racecars and planes. No favorites weeks would be complete with out some bubbles play. We will make our own bubble solu-tion and try out various shapes of wands and methods to blow bubbles.

We have had a great year in Kids Club. We will miss our friends this summer as they enjoy Camp KiTov (Campkitov.org). We have lots of great ideas to kick off this fall. We will see you then.

By IVY KFAREDuBow Preschool

The Jacksonville Jewish Center’s L’Dor V’Dor annual celebration event will be held Sunday, June 2, to celebrate the four schools that together form the Galinsky Academy of the Jacksonville Jewish Center.

This celebration brings the whole community together and raises much-needed funds for Jewish education. The celebration will be dedicated to honoring Gayle Bailys, recipi-ent of the Rabbi David Gaffney Award for Leadership in Educa-

tion. Gayle has been a beloved member of the community for many years and has dedicated

her career to the youth of the Center as a camp director and, for the past 13 years, as the youth director.

The festive evening will also include the hi-larious Jewish comedy of Joel Chasnoff. A Chicago native, Joel’s comedy

is based on real Jewish experi-ences, such as his stint on his day school basketball team and his tour-of-duty in a combat unit of the IDF. Audiences across the spectrum of Jewish knowledge

and observance fi nd Joel’s humor intelligent, insightful and – most importantly – hilarious. Chasnoff has performed his unique brand of smart, uplifting Jewish humor in nine countries, including TV spots in the United States and Israel and more than 1,000 venues in North America. He’s been featured on NPR’s The World and has been seen on NBC, ABC and PBS. On tour, he was the warm-up act for Jon Stewart and Lewis Black of The Daily Show.

Thank you to Kim Glasgal, Shari Shuman and their wonder-ful committee for chairing this important community building and fundraising event.


Students at DuBow Preschool have been busy discovering the wonders of a new season. After harvesting an amazing crop of vegetables from the fall, students had the opportunity to plant wildfl owers, spring vegetables, butterfl y plants, and construct a pole-bean teepee.

Students explored the animal world as well. They identifi ed animal tracks, investigated yel-low aphids, designed birdhouses, and even hatched hundreds of praying mantis. We learned about ladybugs and how they help keep the aphid population down in our garden. We held a ladybug release ceremony, offi ciated by Hazzan Holzer who read the Traveler’s

Prayer and special brachot. More discoveries lie ahead

when we hatch chickens, inves-tigate our pond ecosystem and much more.

By GREG NAGELDuBow Preschool

JJC L’Dor V’Dor event honors Gayle Bailys

Kids club active at the DuBow Preschool

Registration open for Camp Ki Tov

Interview with a Michele Block Gan Yeladim legacy By MOLLY SWEETMichele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool

Spring is booming; garden is blooming


EDUCATION

“Developing a love for learn-ing is one of the most important values I can instill in a child. I think the best way to do this is to model this behavior for them. So, I bring the things that I love into the classroom,” Beth Bull explains, as she shows the bird

garden she has cultivated with her class. “I let them see how excited I get when I learn new things, and they respond to that enthusiasm.”

In her 22 years of teaching at Michele Block Gan Yeladim Pre-school, Bull has used this value to guide her students in a curricu-lum that fosters curiosity and a desire to learn. Like her students,

Bull takes pride in the work they do in the garden. “I love nature, and I hope that in addition to developing a love for learning, they learn to love nature and the world we live in – and that it depends on them to take care of it.” Bull and her kindergarten class are responsible for the care and maintenance of the many gardens on the Michele Block

Gan Yeladim Preschool campus.She notices that education

standards have become more rigorous in her time as a teacher. “We are expected to teach them to read, write, spell and become competent in basic math … even though it’s much more academic, I still try to make learning fun and make each child feel spe-cial.”

One activity she describes capitalizes on the growing cul-tural diversity of Michele Block Gan Yeladim’s student body. “There are students from India, Brazil, Russia, etc., and when I have a student from a particular country, we do a unit on that country as a way to appreciate their heritage and make them feel special and welcome.”

It’s the final countdown to summer in schools across the First Coast. While students eagerly anticipate the months of pop-sicles, sprinklers and pool parties, parents are left with the difficult task of finding ways to keep kids busy during the long summer ahead. Rather than fret about how to prevent summer from becom-ing lackluster, many parents look to the JCA Summer Camp to provide a nurturing, structured environment for their kids, all

summer long.Camp activities officially kick

off on June 17, at which point the JCA will house campers as young as 2 and as old as high school se-niors earning community service hours as junior counselors.

JCA Gan Yeladim, Kinder and Sabra campers can look forward to a daily schedule of art classes, swimming, music, gym classes, games and special events. Camp-ers enrolled in Camp Habonim will have opportunities to partici-pate in specialty choices like fenc-ing, sailing, hip-hop dance and ice-skating. For those interested in

theatre, The Stage Door Theatre Camp provides campers with the experience of working with professionals in the theatre world while putting together a full scale stage show. The JCA pre/post-camp adventure days cover the weeks before and after camp and include sports-focused programs like swimming, soccer, tennis, junior-lifeguarding and yoga.

For more information on JCA summer camps, check out the on-line brochure: http://www.jcajax.org/camp or call Shelly Hughes, JCA camp coordinator at 730-2100 ext. 252.

Each spring at the DuBow Preschool, we hold a special Tzeeporim Moving Up Cer-emony.

Our ceremony is performed on the Jacksonville Jewish Center stage before a large audience of proud families.

The children sing songs, watch a class slide show of pictures, share their favorite memories and receive a pre-school certificate.

The ceremony ends with lots of hugs from teachers, our clergy and me.

It is always such a prideful but bittersweet moment as we see our tzeeporim (birds) “graduate” from our preschool nest and fly off toward kindergarten.

We wish our Tzeeporim Class of 2013 a wonderful summer and hope that you leave our school with a love of learning and many friends.

Mazel Tov to all our sweet tzeeporim!

The fifth-grade class at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School led its conferences with parents and teachers after the first grad-ing period, which was the pilot experience with Student Led Conferences.

It took a lot of reflection, particularly for the students, and the teachers were amazed to see how willing and able the students were to accurately reflect about their study skills and work habits. They were concerned that the more chal-

lenging students might struggle with this, but it turned out to be amazing. Fourth-grade teacher Stephanie Teitelbaum could not wait to have her students lead their conferences after hearing how successful it was. Teitel-baum said in the classroom blog, “I loved the idea of the students taking ownership of their own learning. Not only can they share their achievements, but they can also reflect on the areas they need to work on in order to improve. It is a time to reflect honestly and set goals for the next nine weeks.”


We held a special Shabbat cer-emony in the garden to celebrate all our wonderful moms and bubbes. Morah Rachel, Morah Miriam and Hazzan Holzer led us

in our favorite Shabbat songs and each class sang a sweet mommy song to our honored guests. Then we all enjoyed challah, juice, cookies and muffins. The mothers and bubbes were given gifts made by their cuties. It was a fabulous morning in the sunshine.

After many committee dis-cussions, parent meetings and research, it is official that next school year, the fourth and fifth grade Martin J. Gottlieb Day School classes will participate in the 1:1 iPad pilot program for the 2013-2015 school years.

The iPads will not replace math and Jewish studies books; however, parents will no longer need to purchase books for language arts, social studies and science.

1:1 iPads will maximize learning opportunities for students by providing access to

information anywhere, anytime. The goal is to provide the best

learning environment for the students.




By SHEREEN CANADYDuBow Preschool

By SHEREEN CANADYDuBow Preschool

Michele Block Gan Yeladim teacher cultivates curiosity

JCA summer camp highlighted MJGDS takes innovative approach to conferences

DuBow Preschool holds Mother’s Day Shabbat

MJGDS pilots iPads in place of books

VPK class flies to kindergarten


Last chance for Cosmic BowlingWe hope you will join us for Cosmic Bowling on Sunday, June, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. This fun-filled event will be held at Mandarin Bowl America, 10333 San Jose Blvd. If you didn’t reserve a lane in advance and still want to come – join us! You can pay at the door.

Caring for our par-entsShelley Kulchin, eldercare ad-vocate with Senior Solutions at JFCS, will facilitate the next Caring for Our Parents discussion on Tuesday, July 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at JFCS, 6261 Dupont Sta-tion Ct., E. The June program will focus on how to make a plan of care – whether for now, or to be more prepared in the future. Call Shelley at (904) 394-5722 or [email protected].

Looking for a few good men(and women)JFCS is looking for volunteers to help in a variety of ways. Are you someone who enjoys visiting Jewish patients in the hospital? Well if you are, we are looking for you. The Jewish Healing Network will be resuming hospital visits again, and Karen Susman is looking for volunteers to work with her on this project. Other volunteer opportunities include making visits to shut-ins in their homes or assist-ed-living facilities, helping with Jewish holiday outreach and making Kosher Kart de-liveries. Please contact Karen at (904) 394-5737 if you are interested.

Need a ride to synagogue? If you need a ride, CALL2GO at JFCS. We provide free transportation to synagogue for Shabbat and holiday services. Rides to medical appointments, shopping and other needs are offered at a reduced rate. Call the trans-portation line at 224-6287 for further information or to schedule a ride.

Foods of the monthJFCS appreciates the sup-port of individuals, families and groups who give gifts of nonperishable food to the Winn-Dixie Emergency Food Pantry. We accept donations throughout the year. Foods of the month for June are: beef stew, carrots, beans, rice and fruit juices. Cash gifts always accepted, as well.

JEWISH FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES

JEWISH FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES 2012 FEDERATION ALLOCATION: $250,283

448-1933www.jfcsjax.org

Briefs

I was so excited to have the opportunity to attend the PJ Li-brary Conference held last month in Baltimore. As the Jacksonville coordinator, it was a great oppor-tunity to meet other coordinators from the United States and Cana-da, and learn strategies and ideas for new innovative programs.

The conference was an assort-ment of seminars, marketplace ideas, networking, music and meeting the authors. And talk about networking – it was Jewish geography magnified. I met cous-ins and siblings of many people in

our community. It was also quite a treat to meet Harold Grinspoon, founder of the PJ Library pro-gram, who launched PJ in 2005. Inspired by Dolly Parton’s Imagi-nation Library, Grinspoon wanted to offer both a literacy program and a resource to foster Jewish learning and a deeper engagement in Jewish life.

PJ Library is a gift for all Jew-ish children and their families. These books celebrate impor-tant aspects of Jewish culture, values and tradition and become cherished bedtime story time. PJ Library is in 186 communities with over 196,000 subscribers. The Foundation mails 116,487

books or music to kids 6 months to 8 years old per month. That is almost 1.4 million books a year or 20 Empire State Buildings.

JFCS is now in its second year of offering the PJ Library to children in the Jacksonville area. It has been a privilege to do so and also to develop community-wide programs. I have been so fortunate to develop strong relationships with our educators and synagogues, and it has been an honor to share PJ books and events with the children. Our goal for next year is to engage our kids with more exciting programs, build community, and connect parents and families in more pub-

lic space events. If your child or children do

not yet receive PJ Library books and music, please go to www.pjlibrary.org, find our Jacksonville community and register them online. You may also contact me at (904) 394-5724 or [email protected] and I will be happy to sign you up. Remember this is a free program provided by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, The DuBow Family Foundation and The Sam Berman Charitable Foundation.

We look forward to having you join us on all of our exciting adventures with PJ Library.

By ILENE SCHINASIPJ Library Coordinator

We are very appreciative to the Block Family who during the months of April and May matched every donation dollar-for-dollar to the Feed-A-Needy-Neighbor program benefiting the Winn-Di-xie Emergency Food Pantry. With your support we saw a 47 percent increase in the Block Family Food Challenge this year. That

will translate to the equivalent of 15,409 jars of peanut butter, or 9,334 cans of soup or 477,725 pounds of food.

The Winn-Dixie Emergency Food Pantry serves as a safety net for families, which in these uncer-tain times is more important than ever. For families struggling just to keep a roof over their heads, re-ceiving groceries from the pantry gives them one less worry at the

end of the month. Working arm-in-arm with our other supportive services, the Winn-Dixie Emer-gency Food Pantry helps some of our community’s most vulnerable families meet the basic need of nutrition and helping them to regain their footing.

Thanks to all of you who donated during the Block Family Food Challenge. You helped to help people help themselves.


JFCS is the agency that you have counted on for nearly 100 years. And now it is time for us to ask the question, “Can we count on you?” We will host an exciting event on Oct. 17. We hope you will join honorary chairs Laurie and Linda Dubow, and J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver. It will be an opportunity to introduce your friends and family to all the wonderful things that we do in this community. If you are inter-ested in hosting a table or being a sponsor, please contact Helen Hill by phone (904) 394-5782 or email [email protected].


Robert M. Morgan was born in Richmond, Va., and received his undergraduate degree from Ari-zona State University and his juris doctor-ate from Mississippi College, graduating with distinc-tion.

Morgan serves as a managing partner of Robert M. Morgan & Associates.

His practice areas include elder law, estate planning, guardianship and probate, real estate, corporate and business law.

He is an adjunct professor of law at the Florida Coastal School of Law. He has authored numerous articles and conducted many seminars on real property, probate and estate planning issues. He is a member of the Florida, Tennessee and Jackson-ville bar associations.

Morgan is a valued member of our board of directors. He spon-sored our first Holocaust survivors’ social event, and he and his firm have continued to sponsor the Eat & Schmooze programs and the publica-tion of the Holocaust Hagaddah. He is also our incoming board secretary.


Naomi Mirensky, eldercare advocate and Holocaust services coordinator, is sending out a reminder that any Holocaust survivors living in the greater Jacksonville community can be connected with homecare ser-vices. JFCS, with a partnership with Alpert Jewish Services in West Palm Beach, can offer up to 25 hours per week of homecare services to Holocaust survivors, paid through funds from the Claims Conference. Services in-clude light housekeeping, medi-cation management, assistance with bathing, meal preparation, errands, etc. Please call Naomi Mirensky at (904) 394-5777 or [email protected] for more information.


Learning strategies for new PJ Library programs

Wow! Thanks, Block family! You can count on us

Colleen Rodriguez, executive director of JFCS (third from right), is pictured here in Tallahassee with a team from the Children’s Home Society. Colleen joined other child advocates, speaking with legisla-tors and representatives about issues that are important to the children and other vulnerable popula-tions served by JFCS. She and her peers sent the message to lawmakers about better ways to use state funds and to educate them on what is really going on so they can pass laws that make sense on the frontline.

Gail Furman and Naomi Mirensky with Rose Goldberg and Hilda Warfield at a recent JFCS volunteer event.

Homecare services offered to survivors

Being a voice for the people we serve

Meet Robert Morgan

Robert Morgan


JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHEAST FLORIDA 2012 FEDERATION ALLOCATION: $76,422

JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHEAST FLORIDAPresident’s Corner:

By MARK GREENFoundation President

Why create your legacy through our Jewish Commu-nity Foundation

Did you know? Our Jewish Foun-dation is dedi-cated to secur-ing the future of our agencies and synagogues. Foundation’s board and committees are comprised of Jewish individuals who understand the need to secure a solid financial future for Jewish causes. Endowments are an essential component of a secure future.

Think of the Foundation as the planned giving office for our Jewish agencies, synagogues and you, the members of our community.

We help you create your personal legacy plan – and we make it simple. Within one plan, you can support every Jewish or other quali-fied charitable cause you care about. We can offer ideas for legacy funding and work with you and your professional advisers to cre-ate your agreement. Founda-tion ensures that your intent is clearly reflected in your legacy plan so that your gift has the impact you intend. Nearly 200 individuals have completed legacy plans with Foundation assistance.

What if? What happens after you are no longer with us and funds and assets have been disbursed according to your will? What if a cause that has received funds changes its mission or ceases to exist? Who will be there to ensure that your origi-nal intent is honored in the future? The Foundation will be there.

We, as fellow Jews, understand why you care about Jewish causes. When funds are held at the Founda-tion, we make certain that your wishes and intentions are honored – now and in the future.

Helping create personal plans

Federation’s Lion of Judah women significantly impact our Jewish community as volunteers and donors. At least 16 of these extraordinary women have chosen to include Federation in their wills and estate plans. When a lion chooses to endow her gift, an eter-nal flame, N’er Tamid, is added to her pin to signify her enduring commitment to the Jewish com-munity, now and for the future.

When asked why they chose to do something so personal, lasting and important as leaving a legacy, Barbara Resnick and Sue Eaglstein shared their motivations and feel-ings about becoming Federation’s most recent endowed lions.

Barbara Resnick explained, “My husband and I had already

determined that part of our estate was going to be designated for Jewish causes through the Create

a Jewish Legacy program. Part of that designation was for the Feder-ation and its beneficiary agencies.

In working with Paulette Keifer, she suggested that the Federation portion of our endowment could be applied to endow my Lion of Judah pin. We thought that was a wonderful idea.”

Sue Eaglstein shared, “I chose to endow my gift to Federa-tion because it’s important. My husband and I have supported Federation for many years. They do great work for Jewish causes we care about. It is something I have wanted to do – to support what matters to me now – to leave my legacy so what matters to me now will continue to receive my support in the future.”

Contact the Foundation at 394-0720 to discuss how you can create your Jewish legacy for Federation and the Jewish causes meaningful to you.


Faces of CJL: Jewish Federation of Jacksonville

Iris and Mark Kraemer founded and sponsor our Jewish Community Foundation Legacy Video Project.

The program’s significance was realized recently when Iris learned how meaningful one video was to relatives of a woman who passed. Her daughter and grandchildren explained, “We watched her story over and over … It means so much to us to see and hear her voice once more.”

Through the project, we video-tape legacy stories of individuals who are creating a Jewish legacy in our community. Each has included Jewish or other causes in a will, made gifts to Jewish organizational endowment funds, or declared an intent to do so.

Record your story for family,

for generations that will follow, for community history. What do you want your children, grand-children and future generations to know and remember about you, including your hopes and dreams for family and the community? A video creates a lasting memory for those you love; they will cher-ish your memories and the stories you share.

You may view short clips of family video stories at http://jewishfoundationnefl.org/vblog/create-a-jewish-legacy-celebra-tion-wish-upon-a-shooting-star.

Volunteers are sought to help with this exciting and meaningful project. Please contact us at 394-0720 or email [email protected] to discuss your interest and support.

Precious memories are often lost to time. This is your oppor-

tunity to ensure those who follow will be able to see, hear and be inspired by you – in the future.

Call 394-0720 for more details about creating an ethical will and to arrange your video interview.


Foundation launched the CJL program five years ago. Since its inception, hundreds of in-dividuals have promised to include future gifts to Jewish causes in their estate plans.

When Foundation was incorporated in 1995, local synagogues and agencies together held approximately $1.5 million in endow-ment funds. Because more than 500 com-munity members have declared their intent to remember Jewish causes in their wills and estate plans, this amount will increase signifi-cantly in future years.

Gifts promised through CJL are valued to-day at approximately $27.5 million. The value of existing endowment funds and assets held by Foundation, plus commitments made prior to CJL, plus commitments made during CJL is estimated to exceed $64 million.

Our goal is to grow endowment funds to a minimum of $140 million and, through the funds’ investment earnings, provide 30 percent of our partner synagogues’ and agencies’ an-nual operating budgets.

During the first three years of the CJL pilot program that ended in July 2011, Jewish

Federations of North America and seven community angels provided grants to fund the CJL program director position. Now 18 angels continue to fund this important position. Our past and continuing success is made possible by their support and the efforts of many CJL volunteers.

Foundation works collaboratively with our synagogues and agencies to ask all members of our Jewish community to remember Jewish

causes in their wills and estate plans. Founda-tion has already assisted over 200 individuals with legacy planning.

With CJL we are on the right path – together we will reach our goal.

Thank you for creating your Jewish legacy. Look what we are accomplishing together.

Our ancestors built this Jewish community - that is their legacy. Securing its financial future will be ours.


Richard Sisisky and Mark Green

Foundation celebrates five years of legacy program

Significance of Kraemer legacy video project realized

Kraemer Legacy Video Project

Event Co-chairs Ellen Rosner, Andrea Mail and Jean-ine Rogozinski

To create your Personalized Legacy Agreement including which causes will be your beneficiaries, contact the Foundation. Then, use the following language in your will and to change a beneficiary designation on other assets such as IRAs or life Insurance: “I give and bequeath to the Jewish Community Foundation of Northeast FL Inc., its successors and or assigns X %, (whatever % or dollar amount that is comfortable for you) of my residual estate or/asset.” Contact the Foundation with additional questions. The Jewish Community Foundation of Northeast Florida, Inc., does not provide legal or tax advice. This information is not intended, nor may it be relied upon, as legal, accounting or other professional advice. Before making any financial decisions, always consult your own professional adviser.

Sue Eaglstein Barbara Resnick


JEWISH COMMUNITY ALLIANCE 2012 FEDERATION ALLOCATION: $181,000

904.730.2100wwwjcajax.org

JEWISH COMMUNITY ALLIANCE

JCA happeningsFew openings remain for JCA Summer Camp

The Jewish Community Al-liance Summer Camp 2013 is almost full.

Summer Camp meets for four two-week sessions: June 17-28, July 1-12, July 15-26 and July 29-Aug. 9. Theatre Camp has two sessions: June 17-July 12 and July 15-Aug. 9.

JCA Summer Camp combines fun activities, a fabulous facil-ity and top-notch staff (the camp directors have almost 50 years of combined camping experience at the JCA) to provide a safe, happy and positive camping experience that will create lifelong memories for the campers.

Activities for children ages 2 and up include swimming, arts and crafts, sports, music, dance and theater.

Camp Habonim, a specialty camp for children in grades 3-6, allows campers to concentrate on a specialty in addition to normal camp activities. Specialties of-fered include flag football, chess, horseback riding, pottery, basket-ball, cooking, design, sailing, ice skating, fencing, tennis, soccer, golf, baseball, science and more.

The JCA also offers pre- and post-camp Adventure Days from June 10 to 14 and Aug. 12 to 16.

For more information on

JCA Summer Camp, watch for the camp brochure in the mail, visit www.jcajax.org to view the brochure online or call 730-2100 ext. 252.

Are you ready for some football?

Want to know what the Jaguars have planned for the upcoming football season? Join us for an awesome evening of food, fun, football (and of course beer), as we welcome the new offensive coordinator for the Jaguars, Jedd Fisch. At 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, you’ll get a chance to meet Jedd, get the lowdown on this year’s season and ask some questions, too.

You must be over 21 to attend this event. It’s free for JCA mem-bers and $10 for nonmembers. Registration required by May 30.

Weather wise with meteorologist Mike Prangley

Join us as we welcome First Coast News weatherman Mike Prangley. Mike will give us a peek into life in the First Coast News Weather Center, talk about what causes weather changes and share some insights on this year’s hurricane season. This program will be from 7 to 9 p.m. on Tues-

day, June 18. It’s free for JCA members and $5 for nonmembers.

Foot faultsJoin Dr. Philip Adler of Adler

Podiatry Clinic as he walks you through some of the most com-mon foot ailments and provides real methods to help you avoid and/or treat them. This program is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12. It’s free for JCA members and $5 for nonmembers.

Vandroff Art GalleryThe paintings of Ted Head will

be on display in the Vandroff Art Gallery from June 7 to July 3. Ted’s love of drawing began when he could hold a crayon. In 1974, he began his career as a com-mercial artist when being an artist meant drawing things, as opposed to using a computer.

In 2001, he decided to try his hand at painting after so many years of black-and-white pen drawing. On returning from a trip to Europe, he painted “Vienna Blooms” based on a scene in Vienna. One of the notable fea-tures of his work is the detail in the paintings, a result of years of rendering pen and ink drawings.

Summer youth basket-ball league

The JCA is proud to present

the first youth basketball sum-mer league. This co-ed league promises to be a dynamite season of youth hoops with our focus on offering an organized, competi-tive and social atmosphere. The league’s goal is to develop young athletes into fundamentally sound basketball players, while having fun and growing as individuals and athletes.

Games will be begin Sunday, July 14, and will play through Aug. 4. Fee is $50 for JCA mem-bers and $75 for nonmembers.

Evaluations will be held on June 23 at the JCA for all age groups:

1 p.m. -- 4 – 52 p.m. -- 6 – 73 p.m. -- 8 – 94 p.m. -- 10 - 12 co-edIf you have any questions

about the league or are interested in coaching, call Geoff Thomas at 904-730-2100 ext. 254.

Rabbi Lief presents The Temple’s senior rabbi,

Joshua Lief, presents another fascinating story from the Bible. Join us at noon on Wednesday, June 5, for what promises to be a memorable hour with our forefa-thers and foremothers as they live their lives in ancient times. This program is free for all; bagels will be served.

Eat to Live“Eat to Live” is a terrific

and amazing book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Learn how to eat much better and be much healthier in 30 days. Sandy Oasis will conduct a cooking demonstration and tasting of interesting recipes developed by Dr. Fuhrman.

This nutrient-rich way of eat-ing will satisfy you. There will be no more non-stop trips to the refrigerator looking for something to eat because you will feel full and content after a couple of days eating the right way. Reservations are required with the JCA regis-trar by June 2.

This program is at noon on Thursday, June 6. The fee is $7 for JCA members and $11 for nonmembers.

The Jewish Community Alli-ance participated in a study by the umbrella organization for the Jewish Community Cen-ter Movement that measures member satisfaction and ranks the agency against some of its peers.

For the third year in a row, members rated the JCA staff and facility extremely high in key categories in the study by the JCC Association, “JCC Excellence: Benchmarking.”

“We received our bench-marking results and the scores once again reflected a stellar facility, hard work on the be-half of staff and leadership, and dedicated volunteers and mem-

bers, “ said Jan Lipsky, JCA president. “Other Jewish com-munity centers look to Jackson-ville for what we do and how we do it. A recent visit from a delegation from Minneapolis is just one example. Bravo to Myron Flagler and his staff!”

“I’m very proud of our continued exceptional results in this important study,” Execu-tive Director Myron Flagler said. “I’m also very humbled that we are held is such high regard in our field.”

The study analyzed 46 Jew-ish community centers in the U.S. and Canada and collected data in four areas: financial, program participation, mem-ber feedback and staff feed-back. Almost 470 members

and nonmembers and 80 staff responded.

The JCA Fitness Center was ranked No. 1 by members when they compared staff and programs to other local facili-ties. Members also ranked the JCA Early Childhood Educa-tion Department and the JCA Summer Camp highest in staff and program quality.

The JCA made gains in member use with a majority us-ing three or more programs in a year. JCA members’ net referral rate was ranked near the top.

The study also found a high rate of satisfaction with their jobs among the JCA staff. This correlates with their confidence in the vision and leadership of the agency.


The school year is winding down at Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool. Looking back at the year’s accomplish-ments puts new meaning to the old saying, “time flies when you’re having fun.”

In the first few weeks of school, students and teachers were greeted with a new well-ness program called Discover CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Children’s Health). October was a month full of fall festivi-ties as students learned about the harvest during Sukkot. While students shook the lulav, parents and teachers attended the symposium workshop, “Winning Cooperation in the Home.” Later in October, some

of our lucky students watched wildlife experts release a res-cued manatee back into the wild at Goodby’s Creek.

In November and December, students learned about Thanks-giving and Chanukah, and cel-ebrated the holidays with feasts and art projects.

January was a month full of music. Michele Block Gan Yeladim students attended in-house concerts by the Jack-sonville Symphony Woodwind Quintet and String Quartet, master percussionist Ken Anoff as well as Riverside Fine Arts Association’s Trio Serafini Bril-lante. Also in January, Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool was reaccredited by the Nation-al Association for the Education of Young Children.

In March students learned

the traditions of Passover. They made matzah, ate the Seder meal and took part in an inter-active theatrical performance by Executive Director Myron Flagler, former JCA President Ken Jacobs and teacher Morah Karen.

Students discovered Is-raeli culture during April’s Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Indepen-dence Day) celebration and Lag B’Omer picnic.

Now in the last leg of the school year, students will reflect and celebrate the accomplish-ments of a successful year. In the fall, the advancing kinder-garten class will take the next step into elementary school as we welcome a new incom-ing class of students into the Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool.

By MOLLY SWEETJewish Community Alliance

JCA scores high marks again in study of community centers

Block Gan shares school year highlights

Above: Cal Barker, left, director of facilities management, and Board Member Daniel Miller prepare a time capsule for burial during cer-emonies marking the JCA’s 25th birthday.Below: Michele Block Gan Yeladim Preschool student Matthew Green gives his contribution to the JCA’s time capsule to Board Member Daniel Miller.

More time capsule pics


RIVER GARDEN SENIOR SERVICES

RIVER GARDEN 2012 FEDERATION ALLOCATION: $179,132

Briefs Volunteer opportunities abound at River Garden

The River Garden Campus is home to our dedicated and caring volunteers.From teens to golden-agers, we invite you to become a part of our volunteer team.Create your own convenient schedule. We guarantee your personal fulfillment.Interested in volunteer oppor-tunities at River Garden? Teens: Looking for a great place to volunteer and earn community service hours? If you are at least 13 years of age, please feel free to request an application for consideration. We will be flexible in scheduling to work around summer school and family vacations. Treat yourself to the River Garden experience.Please contact Leslie Held 904-886-8429 or [email protected]

Remember River Garden

When you wish to honor or memorialize your loved ones, please be sure you keep in mind the wonderful ways River Garden has served, and continues to serve, our Northeast Florida community.

L’dor V’dorfrom generation to generationPlease send donations to: Development Department, River Garden Hebrew Home, 11401 Old St. Augustine Rd. Jacksonville, FL 32258, or call 904-886-8432. Dona-tions may also be made by visiting us online at river-garden.org/donation. And, please remember River Gar-den and the entire Northeast Florida area Jewish commu-nity in your will.

Contact Us: Admissions ------------------------------------- 904-886-8420 Adult Day Care Program ------------------- 904-288-7858 The Therapy Center ------------------------- 904-886-8454 Home Healthcare ----------------------------- 904-288-7851 The Coves Independent Living ----------- 904-292-2683 River Garden Foundation ------------------ 904-886-8430 Donations -------------------------------------- 904-886-8432 Volunteer Opportunities -------------------- 904-886-8429 Martin A. Goetz, C.E.O. -------------------- 904-260-1818

11401 Old St. Augustine Rd. Jacksonville, FL 32258 904-260-1818 www.rivergarden.org

By MICHELLE BRANLYDevelopment Associate

Saturday, November 16, 2013 Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village

Presented by SunTrust

Chairs: Arlene & Dr. Tony Adelson and Diane & Dr. Mitchell Rothstein

Honoring Our Golden Couple Lilo and Harry Frisch

Cocktails• Silent Auction •Dinner• Entertainment• Black Tie

For information and sponsorship opportunities contact [email protected] or

904.886.8430. Visit us at www.rivergarden.org

Campaign closed at $7.7 million! Thank you!

It was a fabulous day at Deer-wood Country Club on Wednes-day, April 24, for the 17th Annual River Garden Classic, sponsored by Hardage-Giddens Funeral Homes & Cemeteries.

Players arrived under clear blue skies, and were greeted by traditional bagpipe music and vol-unteers dressed in festive western garb.

After registration and lunch, the golfers took to the course where they had a chance to show their skills at chipping contests and other games. The day ended with a reception and awards

presentation emceed by Dignity Memorial’s John Hamel.

This year’s tournament raised more than $70,000 to once again benefit The Albert Z. Fleet Ge-riatric Training Center at River Garden.

A very special thank you goes out to long-time event chairs Mark Lodinger and Michael Price for their leadership and dedica-tion. This marked Price’s 13th year as chairman and Lodinger’s 17th.

River Garden also extends a special thank you to all of our generous sponsors, committee members, volunteers, players and staff who worked together to make this event successful.

17th Annual River Garden Golf Classic is a success again

Long-time tournament chairs Michael Price and Mark Lodinger

Joanne Zimmerman and Foun-dation Board President Veronica Maybury

Tournament Chair Mark Lodinger (center) with Paul Campbell (l) andJody Brandenburg of Title Sponsor Hardage-Giddens Funeral Homes & Cemeteries

Reception Sponsor: Greene Hazel Insurance Group Team members Bob Livingston,Kyle Whitman, Eric Prendergast and Chip Greene

First Place Team - Net Score: Mike Valdovinos and Jerry Bur-roughs with Aetna and Larry Jewett with Sysco Jacksonville

First Place Team – Gross Score:Neal Goldblatt, Dr. Barry Efron, Keith Jones, Glenn Adams

Enjoying lunch before the shotgun start Fabulous Golf Classic volunteers ready to greet the players

Contact Us:

Admissions ........... 904-886-8420 Adult Daycare ............... 288-7858 Rehab/Therapy ............. 886-8454 Home Healthcare .......... 288-7851 The Coves ..................... 292-2683 The Foundation ............. 886-8430 Donations...................... 886-8432 Volunteers .................... 886-8429 Marty Goetz, CEO ........ 260-1818

11401 Old St. Augustine Rd. Jacksonville, FL 32258

904-260-1818 www.rivergarden.org

BirthRowan Winter Menden-

hall was born April 4, 2013, at Baptist South Hospital to parents Max and Julia Mendenhall of Jacksonville. Maternal grandpar-ents are Allen and Cathie Altman of St. Augustine, and paternal grandparents are Milton and Sara Mendenhall, also of St. Augus-tine.

Richmond Jason Carpenter was born on April 16, 2013, at 1:01 p.m., weighing 8 lb 9 oz, at Fruitful Vine Birth Center to parents Seth and Emily Carpenter. He joins big sisters Zoe and Teagan. His Hebrew name is Yair.

B’nai MitzvahNathan Ari Zager, son of

Major Josh and Jana Zager, will be called to the Torah on the oc-casion of his Bar Mitzvah on June 29, 2013, at Camp Ra-mah Darom.

Shar-ing in the simcha will be his sister, Lily, 10; grandparents Lois and Alan Chepenik of Jacksonville, and Robin and Al Zager of Fair Haven, N.J.; and many camp friends.

Nathan is in seventh grade at Baker Middle School in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he is in the National Junior Honor Society. He enjoys soccer, tennis, fi shing, snow skiing and reading.

Nathan and his family will travel to Israel in July where he will be called to the Torah at the Western Wall on July 25, 2013.

AccomplishmentsTalia Fleet, daughter of

Janis and Bob Fleet, received her master of education in early education from the University of Florida. She was enrolled in UF’s Unifi ed Early Childhood Proteach Education Program and received her bachelors of arts in special education last year.

Lillian Robyn Anderson, daughter of Dr. John and Mrs. Joette Anderson, graduated from the Burnett Honors College of

the University of Central Florida on May 2 with a bachelor of arts in legal studies and a certifi cate in Judaic studies. She plans on attending law school after taking a well-deserved year off.

Sympathy… to the family of Dr. Ste-

phen Broadman who died May 8, 2013. He is survived by to his wife Ruchel; daughters Dr. Melissa Broadman, Dr. Jennifer (Dr. Jay) Kugler, and Suzanne (Dr. Eric) Breshad; sister Rose (Richard) Packard; grandchildren Georgette & Joshua Breshad, and Miriam, Max & Nathan Kugler; and mother-in-law Elsie Yellin.Contributions may be made to River Garden, the Jacksonville Jewish Center, or the National Parkinson’s Foundation.

… to the family of Nedra Israel Harkavy who died April 12, 2013. She is survived by her daughter, Karen (Cyril) Toker of Ponte Vedra Beach, and her son, Kenneth (Lorraine) Harkavy. She is also survived by her grand-children David (Julie), Rachel (Richard), Brook (Mark), Sara (Taylor), and Victoria, and her great grandchildren Maya, Adina, Alexander, Adam and Brynn. She was predeceased by her fi rst husband, Victor M. Harkavy, and her second husband, Samuel Miller. Nedra had committed her life and career to the educa-tion of children, both at home and in school systems in Con-necticut and Virginia. She was a founder of the Program for Gifted and Talented Children in the Hampton (Virginia) Public Schools, and she also founded the religious school at Temple Sinai in Newport News, VA. She was a long-standing member of Beth El The Beaches Synagogue, and she and her second husband, Samuel Miller, donated the fi rst Torah there. Contributions may be made to Beth El The Beaches Synagogue or the National Coun-cil of Jewish Women.

… to the family of Henry Ohayon. He is survived by his siblings Raymonde Higgins and Jais Ohayon.

... to the family of Aaron Scharf who died April 23, 2013, at his home in Ponte Vedra Beach, where he and his late wife Blanche lived since 1978. He is survived by sons Gilbert and Mi-chael (Fiona), grandsons Andrew, William and Benjamin, and many relatives in Jacksonville.

LIFECYCLES

BUSINESS CARD DIRECTORY

Evan J. YegelwelTerrell Hogan Ellis Yegelwel, P.A.

8th Floor, Blackstone Building233 East Bay StreetJacksonville, FL 32202

Phone: 904-632-2424

Board Certified Civil Trial LawyerPersonal Injury and Wrongful Death

Elliott B. Rosenbaum, Psy.D., ABPPClinical Psychologist

[email protected]

4465 Baymeadows Road, Suite 7Jacksonville, Florida32217 T: (904) 252-7979

Board Certifi ed Clinical PsychologistIndividual & Family TherapyEducational Testing (LD/ADHD)Life Coaching

[email protected]


Rabbi Samuel Cywiak, the sole survivor of a mass execu-tion when the Nazis invaded his hometown in Poland at the start of World War II, died April 25 in Miami, just one month after his 93rd birthday.

The rabbi, who served the Congregation Sons of Israel from 1992 to 2011, was born March 25, 1920. He had been residing in Miami since late 2011 after suffering a stroke in October of that year.

“I’m sorry to hear about it,” St. Augustine resident and lifetime member of the Congregation Sons of Israel Philip Bernstein said Tuesday, after learning of the rabbi’s death. “I thought he was a nice guy.”

He was highly regarded by the St. Augustine Ministerial Alli-ance. “Every time I saw some-one” from the alliance, Bernstein said, “they’d say how much they liked him.”

He was well known for his efforts to share the Jewish faith with the community. He was a chaplain at Flagler Hospital, and he gave Holocaust lectures for the students at Flagler College sev-eral times a year, providing tours of the synagogue for the students.

Shortly before his retirement he collaborated with author/ghostwriter Jeff Swesky on

“Flight From Fear: A Rabbi’s Ho-locaust Memoir,” a book which became an Amazon Best Seller in several categories, including ranking No. 15 in two Kindle eBook categories — biographies and memoirs and religious.

The book recounted how, in August 1939 at age 19, Samuel Cywiak returned to his home in Wyszkow, Poland, to visit his family for the high holidays. Days later Germany invaded Poland, initiating the start of World War II. Shortly after the invasion, the Nazis marched Samuel and his father — part of a group of nearly 70 teachers and leaders — into the woods across from the Bug River. His father, Baruch Cy-wiak, was one of the founders of the Agudat Israeli movement in Poland. And it was thanks to the actions of his father that Samuel was the sole survivor of a mass execution. The book details the 19-year-old’s struggle for survival and his efforts to fl ee from the Nazis and reunite with the rest of his family.

As a young man, the rabbi studied at the Yeshivot of Poland and Lithuania, but was forced to fi nd refuge in Russia during World War II.

He arrived in the United States in 1947, part of a group of rabbis and obtained his postgraduate degree in the Rabbinate. Shortly after that he was designated as the rabbi in Louisville, Ky., where he worked for seven years until

he moved to Jersey City, where he served until 1960. It was at that time he was contracted by the Israeli union of Caracas, and served in Venezuela for more than 30 years.

Rabbi Cywiak found his way to St. Augustine through his step-son David Duranh, whom the rabbi raised from age 7 after marrying David’s mother, Ruk-mini. The two were married for 34 years, and his wife and stepson remained in St. Augustine after the rabbi moved to Miami.

“I saw an ad in the Miami pa-per,” David explains. At the time, the rabbi was living in Venezuela.

He met in St. Augustine with offi cials of the synagogue including the late Martin Broudy, president, and was asked to come to the Ancient City to serve the Jewish congregation at the syna-gogue.

He spent his last year and half in the company of his children Hyman and Nelly Cywiak, Rebecca Schloser, Bernice Aizic, Herschel and Lya Cywiak; and his grandchildren and great grandchildren. The family celebrated his 93rd birthday in Miami. He was even was able to give a special blessing in the Bar Mitzvah of his great grandson.

He will be remembered for his knowledge of religion, love of the state of Israel that he shared however he could.

Funeral services were held in Miami.

Rabbi, Holocaust survivor diesBy ANNE C. HEYMENReprinted with permission from The St. Augustine Record

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SYNAGOGUE NEWSpage 25Jacksonville Jewish News • June 2013 www.jewishjacksonville.org

Each year OneJax hosts its Humanitarian Awards Dinner to honor those who have dem-onstrated the highest level of personal and professional integ-rity, have given generously and extensively to our community, and have been dedicated to the improvement of human rela-tions among diverse groups in our community. This year Frieda Saraga will be among those honored at the dinner to be held May 14 at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront.

The OneJax website introduc-es Frieda as a community activist and volunteer:

Frieda Saraga is a longstand-ing member of the Jacksonville Jewish community. In the LGBT and HIV communities, she is known by all as the most com-passionate, generous and giving person, who will also stand be-side members of these marginal-ized groups. While she is neither

LGBT nor a person with HIV, she has been the most steadfast ally and supporter these commu-nities in Jacksonville have ever known. She is a second mom to so many in the HIV and LGBT communities and exemplifi es an outstanding Humanitarian.

Frieda has served on the board of BRAIDS for more than 10 years, helping them sponsor the annual Artreach event to raise funds for emerging HIV/AIDS programs. She began volunteer-ing at the old Main Street Clinic in 1989 doing HIV counseling and testing and received the Vol-unteer of the Year award in 1991.

In 1992, Frieda and her hus-band, Leonard, spearheaded the organization PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbi-ans and Gays) of Jacksonville. Frieda’s main focus for PFLAG was a scholarship program which has given out over $120,000 in college scholarships to the LGBT community since 1996.

Andrew Ocean, a member of

Congregation Ahavath Chesed shares his more personal conver-sation with her.

How long have you lived in Jacksonville?

I am 80 years old; I moved


The Temple Institute of Religion of Congregation Ahavath Chesed is very excited about its past, present and future for children from pre-kindergarten through 12th grades.

Susan Wolchok’s son is a fi rst grade student. “My son, Zane, loves going to Sunday School. He has so many friends and the chil-dren do incredible art projects, sing, dance and eat. One week, Zane came home telling me how we should greet house guests. The fol-lowing week, he told me everyone should guard their tongues and not speak badly about others. He looks forward to TIR every week, and I am thrilled that he is so happy!”

Last month, the Hopes and

Dreams Initiative was launched by Ronni Ticker, TIR director. Gail Sterman, vice president for educa-tion and youth, explains, “Starting now and continuing throughout the year, parents, teachers, students and clergy will share their hopes and dreams for how Temple’s children can live and learn throughout their lifetime as Reform Jews. Hopes and Dreams is providing a forum for all TIR stakeholders to come together as a community and hear each other. This is an exciting pro-gram for TIR moving forward into the 21st century.”

“Family Engagement provides a rich opportunity for families to experience what their children are learning in the classrooms and to participate in Tikkun

Olam,” adds Gail.The essence of TIR is summed

up by Jill Abel, parent of Hannah and Aaron, “TIR is special because the teachers there truly love their students and love spending time with them. The rabbis are equally involved in the educational process and make the young people in our congregation a priority. My children have learned as much about Jewish ethics and values at TIR as they have about Jewish holidays and traditions,” says Jill whose family has been involved in Temple since their children were very young.

Share your hopes and dreams for your family. Call Ronni Ticker at 904-733-7078 or email to [email protected].


here when I was just 7.Were you raised in a Jewish

home?Yes. I was raised as a conser-

vative Jew. We are members of the Jacksonville Jewish Center and associate members of the Temple.

How has being Jewish helped you in your volunteer work?

While growing up I had no idea that I’d become an activist. My mother was from Poland. I saw a lot of intolerance while I was growing up. I saw how non-Jews were largely ignorant about what it meant to be a Jew. I witnessed persecution, sorrow and hurt.

But why did gay causes attract your attention?

My husband of 62 years and I have fi ve children, three of whom are openly gay and two of whom are heterosexual. I saw the same types of intolerance, etc., with respect to my gay children that I saw growing up directed at Jews. It was just wrong and we were determined to do something about it; not just for our children but for other gay children and their parents.

What was it like having a mix sexuality household?

I would say it was like any other family. As my children grew, we delighted in the collec-

tion of wonderful people that our children attracted to them. We’ve been through marriages and di-vorces, and we’ll be celebrating the marriage of one of our gay children this year. Unfortunately, some parents reject their gay children, actually putting them out on the street. This sadness motivated us to get involved in an effort to make a difference.

How long have you been ac-tive in gay causes?

We started PFLAG in Jack-sonville in 1992. We began our scholarship program in 1996 and have awarded about $250,000 since then to openly LGBT students since then. In addition (and separate from PFLAG), I have been testing and counsel-ing AIDS patients who are also prisoners in the city jail system for the past 20 years.

What has this experience taught you?

Human beings are in need of kindness and caring attention de-spite their circumstances. We all can make a difference and make Jacksonville a more loving place by seeing God in the faces of all people and treating each other with respect. I think Jacksonville is beginning to be such a place. I am honored and deeply humbled by the recognition OneJax.org has given me.

Frieda Saraga

Temple’s Frieda Saraga receives OneJax honor

Hopes and Dreams Initiative launched

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With millions still out of work, many people in our own community are forced to choose between paying the rent and putting food on the table. That’s why we’re, through Jewish Family & Community Services, not only running food pantries and meal programs, we’re also offering fi nancial assistance to get people back on track. Today, more people are turning to us for assistance than ever before. Help us ensure that no one is turned away.

HUNGER

DOESN’T

DISCRIMINATE.

THE STRENGTH OF A PEOPLE.THE POWER OF COMMUNITY.

jewishjacksonville.orgfacebook.com/jaxjewish


SYNAGOGUE NEWS

Federation’s Shalom Jacksonvillepresents

ShalohaA Jewish-Hawaiian welcome of newcomers

Join usSunday, June 2• 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.• Home of Betty Eisenberg•

Enjoy tropical drinks and desserts, and some island fun. Make new friends, schmooze with friendly locals and learn about the Jacksonville Jewish community. Dress island style or casual.

RSVP: Isabel Balotin, 904-448-5000 x206 or [email protected].

The theme of this year’s Evening of Inspiration was to showcase Torah Academy of Jacksonville. The building came to life, sparkling and bright; student’s works proud-ly exhibited for parents, relatives, friends and guests who attended the gala evening. As bright as the school was, so wide were the smiles of friends and family who could not contain their pride in the school and its students.

It is eminently appropriate for Torah Academy to pay respects to the Fisches on this, the 10th year of the school’s existence. Rabbi Yaakov and Henny Fisch were the evening’s honorees, and were highly visible during the evening chatting with guests and bringing smiles to people’s faces.

The Etz Chaim lobby was transformed to a magical silvery scene by Larry Smith. Food was catered by Brett Attwood and his team. Sha-Ron Kushnir, who provided the musical interlude on keyboard during the cocktail hour, moved into the social hall to provide a background of piano music during dinner.

Kudos go to Emily Rosenbaum and Irene Attali who did a masterful job as event chairs as they made sure that everything ran smoothly. There were many parents,

teachers and friends who stepped up to help and are too numerous to mention. The evening’s success must be attributed to everyone who extended their assistance. Thank you.

Videographer Carlos Bouvier once again captured the essence and excitement of a day in the Life of a Torah Academy student. The students were the stars of this show, and the teachers introduced the attendees to the vision and mission of the school, showcasing the students and presenting them in a most endearing way.

Rabbi Schochet, principal of Torah Academy, and Da-vid Robbins, president, addressed the attendees. Robbins thanked the faculty and staff, and acknowledged princi-pals past and present for their dedication to the quality and growth of Torah Academy. He also recognized major donors and founders for their constant support of Torah and Jewish education in our city.

The evening culminated in the keynote address presented by Rabbi Nate Segal, director of Community Services for Torah U’Mesora, the National Society of Hebrew Day Schools. Segal remembers meeting a young couple in Israel during a snow storm; as he got to know the couple during that weekend, he directed the couple to their new home in Jacksonville. The couple is none other

than Rabbi Yaakov and Morah Henny Fisch. David Robbins presented Rabbi Fisch with the Kesser

Shem Tov, and Morah Henny with the Exemplary Teacher Award.

By Torah Academy

With millions still out of work, many people in our own community are forced to choose between paying the rent and putting food on the table. That’s why we’re, through Jewish Family & Community Services, not only running food pantries and meal programs, we’re also offering fi nancial assistance to get people back on track. Today, more people are turning to us for assistance than ever before. Help us ensure that no one is turned away.

HUNGER

DOESN’T

DISCRIMINATE.

THE STRENGTH OF A PEOPLE.THE POWER OF COMMUNITY.

jewishjacksonville.orgfacebook.com/jaxjewish

Torah dinner Co-Chairs Irene Attali and Emily Rosen-baum

Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz takes the Ackermans and Schillers on a tour of Torah Academy.

Torah Academy honors Rabbi Yaakov and Morah Henny Fisch

Guests at the Torah

Academy 10th An-

niversary Dinner


From Kabbalat Shabbat through Sunday afternoon, Temple was a beehive of fun, friends, food and frivolity dur-ing the first weekend in May.

The Temple family and many friends from throughout the community welcomed Shab-bat on May 3 with a musical worship experience that had the entire congregation clapping, tapping toes and dancing in the aisles.

Rabbi Cohen assembled a group of congregants, whose musical talents infused the wor-ship experience with spirit and joy. Cohen realized his vision for the rabbinate “to create op-portunities for active, participa-tory Judaism.”

At Friday Night Live, the congregation experienced the words of Deuteronomy 30, which teaches lo bashamayim hi: The Torah is not in the heav-ens but rather it is close to us, in our mouths and in our hearts.

On May 5 the Temple family welcomed hundreds of people from throughout the Jackson-ville community to an afternoon of eating and more eating at the second annual Jacksonville Jew-ish Food Festival.

The delicious food prepared by local area caterers and restaurateurs was augmented by the very best cookies and cakes baked from Bubbe’s favorite recipes and entered in Bubbe’s Bake-off. The profes-sional judges awarded first place honors to Ann Lentz (cookies) and Grettel Wentling and Jessica Olan (cake).

“It was more fun than we dared imagine,” said Michelle Pargman, co-chair of the event. “Amazing what a group of dedicated volunteers can make happen. Where else can you get homemade matzah ball soup, falafel, couscous salad, smoked salmon bruschetta, a pickle, an olive and home-made des-serts all in one spot. A special shout-out to our donors whose generosity made the day a most successful fundraiser and friend-raiser.

“Since it only happens once a year, you must plan to join us for the 3rd Annual next May.”

2013 Bubbe’s Bake-Off Winning Recipes

Cookies – First Place – Ann LentzDate-nut balls

Ingredients1 cup chopped dates (packed)1 cup chopped nuts1 cup sugar1 stick margarine1 tablespoon Karo syrup

(white)1 egg – beaten2 cups Rice Krispies1 teaspoon vanillaPowdered sugar (or coconut)InstructionsIn heavy, deep saucepan,

combine all but Rice Krispies and vanilla.

Cook 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat; add Rice Krispies and vanilla; cool until warm.

Form into balls and roll in powdered sugar (or coconut).

Yield: 5 dozen

Cakes – First Place – Grettel Wentling and Jessica OlanHouse zucchini layer cake with cream cheese frosting

Cake Ingredients3 cups all-purpose flour2 ½ cups granulated sugar1 cup sweetened coconut

flakes4 teaspoons baking soda2 teaspoons salt4 teaspoons cinnamon½ teaspoon nutmeg⅓ cup vegetable oil4 eggs2 teaspoons vanilla4 cups grated peeled zucchini1 can (20 ounces) crushed

pineapple, drainedFrosting Ingredients6 tablespoons butter, at room

temperature3 packages (8 ounces each)

cream cheese, at room tempera-ture

3 pounds confectioner’s sugar6 teaspoons vanillaMilk, as needed to adjust

thickness of frostingCake InstructionsPreheat oven to 350 degrees;

prepare three 9-inch round cake pans by lining with parchment paper and coating with non-stick spray; set aside. (Alternatively, you could use a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and bake as a sheet cake.)

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well. In a separate small bowl, combine oil, eggs and vanilla until thoroughly blended. Then add the liquid ingredients into the dry, along with the zucchini and the drained crushed pineapple. Mix everything together until well blended.

Pour the batter into the pre-pared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes (35 minutes for sheet cake). Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake; it’s done when the toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting InstructionsThoroughly mix butter and

cream cheese together in a large bowl. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla and beat on a medium speed until completely combined. You may need to adjust the thick-ness of the frosting with milk until the desired consistency is achieved.

Assemble the cake in three layers, with frosting between each layer and on the outside of the cake. Garnish with chopped walnuts.

Cookies – Second Place – Sandy RosenfieldChocolate chip cookies

Ingredients1 cup butter, melted¾ cup sugar¾ cup packed light brown

sugar1 tablespoon vanilla1 tablespoon Kahlua or Tia

Maria1 tablespoon Frangelico2 eggs1 teaspoon baking soda½ teaspoon salt2 ½ cups all-purpose flour4 cups milk chocolate chips

(I use 2 cups semisweet, 1 cup white, 1 cup milk chocolate)

1 cup walnut halves or pecans, chopped

1 cup macadamia nuts

DirectionsCream butter, sugar, vanilla,

Frangelico and Tia Maria until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Stir in choco-late chips and nuts; mix well. Place in storage container and refrigerate overnight. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 dozen

Cakes – Second Place – Mike SimsMike’s “banana split-the-red sea” cake

Cake Ingredients1 box white cake mix1 box banana pudding mix½ cup chocolate syrup½ cup vegetable oil½ cup water½ cup banana liqueur4 eggsGlaze and Topping Ingredients½ cup chopped walnuts½ jar maraschino cherries

(sliced in halves)1 cup white chocolate morsels½ cup semisweet chocolate

morsels1 can sweetened condensed

milk4 tablespoons confectioners’

sugarCake DirectionsPreheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients except choco-late syrup in electric mixer for 2 minutes. Pour two-thirds of the batter into a well-greased Bundt cake pan. Fold in chocolate syrup in remaining batter and pour into Bundt cake pan on top of other batter. Bake for 50 minutes. After the cake has cooled, remove from pan.

Glaze and Topping DirectionsIn a double boiler, melt/stir

together white chocolate morsels, 3 tablespoons of confection-ers’ sugar and half of the can of sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Pour liberally over cake, covering top and sides. Before glaze hardens, sprinkle walnuts and half-slices of maraschino cherries generously on top of glaze. In a double boiler, meld/stir together the semisweet chocolate morsels, 1 tablespoon of confectioners’ sugar and re-mainder of sweetened condensed milk. Drizzle over top of cake with spoon or spatula. “Eat ev-erything on your plate! There are starving children somewhere!”

By GOLDIE LANSKYCongregation Ahavath Chesed

Congregation Ahavath Chesed rocks the food festival

Bubbe Bake Off winnersPhoto by Larry Tallis

SYNAGOGUE NEWS

Documents

Jacksonville Jewish News June 2013